The Danes-Gilmores
by niazn
Summary: Family; you don't always like your family, but you always love your family. Explore the lives of the Danes-Gilmore family; Lorelai, Luke, Will, Zoe, Dylan, and Max.
1. Chapter 1

_Background Information:_

 _Dylan- 16 years old, adopted at age 1 after Luke and Lorelai were falsely told they couldn't have children, attends Chilton._

 _Zoe- 15 years old, attends Chilton._

 _Will- 15 years old, attends Chilton._

 _Max- 8 years old_

 **Chapter 1:**

"Zoe, you've been in there forever, I have to pee!", eight year old, Max, exclaimed through the locked bathroom door to his older sister, Zoe.

"Use the other bathroom!", Zoe replies, having no intention of hurrying up.

"Dylan's taking a shower in the other bathroom!", Max argues, crossing his legs.

"Tough luck little bro"

"Zoe!", he cries out, beginning to bang on the door.

"Woah, woah, woah, what's with all the banging?", Luke calls from downstairs.

"Dad! Tell Zoe to get out of the bathroom, I have to pee!", he yells back.

Before Luke can finish rolling his eyes, Zoe walks out of the bathroom and Max runs in.

She walks down the stairs and joins her father and her brother for breakfast.

"Morning", Luke greets her daughter.

Will nods at her, acknowledging her presence.

"Morning, Daddy", she smiles, as her father kisses her on the cheek.

"Your mother had to go into work early today so I'm gonna be taking you guys to school, but we have to drop Max off first so we better get going"

As if on cue, Max and Dylan walked down the stairs.

"Morning", Dylan said with a yawn.

"Morning. Grab some toast and get moving, we're late"

The family packed into Luke's Jeep Wrangler and started their day off with the long drive from Stars Hollow to Chilton.

* * *

 **Dylan-**

Dylan Danes-Gilmore was a tall boy, almost six-foot. He had messy, dirty-blonde hair and green eyes, which made him stand out in his family full of brown hair and bright blue eyes.

He ran his hands through his hair and made his way through the halls of Chilton, catching the eye of every girl he walked past, but never noticing it. He was focused on getting to his first class on time. He made it to his seat just as the bell rang.

"Mr. Danes, the point of the bell is to signify the start of class, not the time that you choose to grace us with your presence", his history teacher, Mr. Remmy, says sternly.

"Sorry, sir", Dylan replies, blushing a little.

Dylan was very popular among most teachers and students. He got very good grades, he was polite, and he was studious, but even his charming smile couldn't win over the strictest teacher in the school; Mr. Remmy.

As Mr. Remmy began his lesson, Dylan eagerly listened. Last quarter he got a B in history and his parents weren't very happy, he was warned that if he couldn't get his grade back up to an A he would get his phone taken away.

* * *

 **Zoe-**

Zoe Danes-Gilmore confidently walked into her first period class minutes after the bell rang with a hot-chocolate in hand that she had bought from the cafeteria, causing her to be late to class.

"Zoe, I assume you have a reason for being late", her math teacher says as Zoe sits down.

"We had to drop my little brother off at school, so I got here a little late", she responds, not even looking up at the teacher.

"Yet you had time to stop by the cafeteria?"

"Sorry", she shrugs, with a smile on her face that gets her out of trouble every time.

"Don't be late again, next time it's a detention", the teacher warns her, for the third time in the past two weeks.

"Wouldn't dream of it", she says sarcastically with a smirk.

Her teacher began to write the quadratic formula on the board and students began to copy it down, but not Zoe.

She began to think of what she would be doing this weekend. It was Friday so her boyfriend would be driving her home from school. She planned on hanging out with her boyfriend on Friday night, going to a party on Saturday night, then hanging out with her boyfriend again Sunday night.

Zoe was a pretty girl. She had every guy wrapped around her finger. She was used to getting what she wanted, being Daddy's little girl and all, she not only wanted things to always go her way, she expected it.

* * *

 **Will-**

William Danes-Gilmore pulled his first period binder out his messy locker and began strolling to class, receiving many smiles from the girls he walked by. As he walked past one of the deans, he quickly tucked his shirt in to avoid receiving a detention then untucked it when he walked far enough away.

He got to the door of his classroom but just as he was about to walk in, he spotted his girlfriend, Taylor, down the hall struggling to stuff her backpack into her locker. Without having to give it a second thought, he walked towards his girlfriend.

"Hey", he said with a smile, leaning on the locker next to hers.

She was startled at first, then grinned after looking up and seeing who it was.

"Hey!", Taylor greeted.

Will quickly pecked her on the cheek.

"Will...", she giggled.

Will began to kiss her again with a little more meaning then quickly turning into a make-out session in the hall but the bell rang causing Taylor to push him away.

"I'm late, but can we continue this tonight?", she smirks.

"Can't wait", he smiles back.

He takes the backpack out of her hands and shoves it into her full locker on the first try.

"See you", she says with a wave, before rushing off to class.

Will watches her walk away then begins to walk to class.

"Nice of you to join us, Mr. Danes", Ms. Caldicott says as he strolls in late.

"Sorry", Will shrugs.

"Perhaps you could apologize to the class for walking in late and disrupting the lesson"

Will turned around in his seat and sarcastically said, "My bad", causing a chuckle among the students.

"You are periodically late to my class, Mr. Danes and you never have a good reason nor sincere apology", Ms. Caldicott goes on.

"I apologize, Ms. Caldicott, it won't happen again", he repeats, feigning sincerity.

She glares at the young boy for a moment and thinks.

"I've had enough of it, young man"

Will subtly rolls his eyes, not expecting her to see but she does.

"That's it", she determines, storming over to her desk and reaching into her drawer for a detention slip.

Will dreads what's coming next, realizing his weekend will be over once his parents find out he got detention again.

"Detention, today, after school, two hours", the teacher states, placing the slip on Will's desk.

He just nods back, knowing all the plans he was going to make with his girlfriend just went down the drain.

* * *

The final bell rang and the halls of Chilton immediately filled with kids ready to go home. Dylan loosened his tie so it was no longer strangling him as he walked to his locker to get his backpack.

After getting his stuff he went to look for his brother, Will. He wasn't at his own locker so he was definitely at his girlfriend's locker.

Will was at Taylor's locker breaking the news that he couldn't hang out later that night or at all this weekend probably because he'll almost certainly be grounded for getting detention.

"Hey, man", Will greeted Dylan.

"Hey, you coming on the bus?", Dylan asked.

"No, Caldicott gave me detention"

Dylan held back a laugh, he could tell Will was in a bad enough mood as it was.

"I'll see you at home", he said.

Will waved and started to walk to the classroom he was going to spend the next two hours of his friday night in.

* * *

Dylan got off his bus and was once again back in Stars Hollow. He mentally ran through his schedule realizing that he didn't have baseball practice because it was Friday, so he wouldn't have to rush home and get ready, instead he would be helping out his father in the diner.

He walked up the steps to the diner and opened the door with the bell chiming as he walked in.

"Hey, Dad", Dylan greeted his father who was pouring coffee for one of the customers.

"Hey, Dyl", Luke responded.

Dylan tossed his backpack behind the counter and grabbed his apron.

"Where's Will?", Luke asked, walking back to the counter to grab plates.

"He got detention"

"You've gotta be kidding me. Again?"

Dylan nods.

"He is in so much trouble when he comes home", Luke mumbles to himself.

"How was school?", he asks, turning his attention to Dylan.

"Fine"

Dylan began to clear off tables as Luke took orders.

"How about in an hour or so we go to the park and play some baseball", Luke suggested to his son.

"Sure"

"Great, I look forward to beating you again", Luke teased.

Dylan rolled his eyes.

He loved doing things with his dad just the two of them. Despite being adopted, Dylan's behavior resembled Luke's the most out of everyone in the family. Will and Max also played baseball and were naturally good at it but Dylan worked extra hard and played specifically to make Luke proud. He always helped out at the diner even when he wasn't asked to and his number one priority was making his parents proud of him, which they already were.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2:**

It was 9:00 pm and Dylan and Luke were approaching the house after walking home from the diner.

"We're home", Luke called into the two story house as they walked in.

"Hey, honey", Lorelai greeted, kissing Luke then Dylan.

"Hey, where's Will?", Luke asked.

"He came home around six and didn't say a word, I thought he had left early from the diner"

"Well, he got detention"

"Again?", Lorelai groaned.

Luke walked to the bottom of the stairs.

"Will? Get down here", Luke called for him up the stairs.

Will knew it was coming, he had been warned about getting into more trouble at school. It wasn't that he was a bad kid, he just wasn't the type of kid to kiss up to teachers and follow every single rule; at a school like Chilton, that easily turns into a problem.

He had changed out of his school uniform into a t-shirt and jeans, and a baseball cap covered his messy hair. He sent his last text for the weekend to his girlfriend and reluctantly got up and walked down the stairs to face his parents. As usual, both his brothers were there to witness him get into trouble for their amusement.

He followed his parents to the kitchen, took a seat, and waited to be yelled at.

"What'd you do this time?", Lorelai asked.

"I was late to class"

"I dropped you guys off fifteen minutes before the first bell, there's no reason you should've been late", Luke reminds him.

"Dad, I had to get my books and stuff", he argues back, but watching his tone.

"It takes you fifteen minutes to get your books? I dropped you, Dylan, and Zoe all off at the same time, yet you're the only one who came home with a detention. Why do I feel like you're not telling me the whole truth?"

Will shrugged.

"Honey, we talked about this, you can't keep coming home with detentions", Lorelai says.

"It's not my fault, every single teacher in that school has it out for me"

"You can't keep using that excuse, kid", she tells him.

"You're grounded for the rest of the weekend, and I want you working double shifts in the diner on Saturday and Sunday. Got it?", Luke states.

"Yes", he mumbles.

"Grounded means no phone, Will, hand it over", Lorelai reminds him.

He reaches into his pocket and hands over his phone.

"Get upstairs", Luke orders.

Will knew better than to argue, his parents were fair for the most part, but when he was being punished he knew their minds were set and arguing could only make the situation worse. He walked upstairs.

"I hate punishing him", Lorelai admitted when they were alone.

"He needs consequences", Luke assured her, pulling her into his arms.

"I know, but is it really working if we're grounding him every other week?"

"Trust me, I'll have a list of chores ready for him to do at the diner this weekend, he won't get bored of his punishment"

Lorelai sighed and the couple walked back into the living room.

"Is Zoe home yet?", Luke asks no one in particular.

"She's still at her boyfriend's house", Max smirks.

Luke rolled his eyes; he hated Zoe's boyfriend, Nick. He had only met him once and the kid gave him a bad first impression.

* * *

 **Saturday 5:45 am**

Luke got out of bed quietly, without waking Lorelai up. He was used to getting up early and didn't mind it at all, it just so happens he is the only one in the family who felt that way.

He walked to Will's room and knocked on the door, hoping Will would already be up for his diner shift so he wouldn't have to wake him up. Unfortunately, this was not, and has never been, the case.

He walked over to the edge of Will's bed and started gently shaking him.

Will groaned and tried to ignore the shaking.

"Will, come on, you gotta get out of bed"

"It's Saturday, leave me alone", he grumbled in response.

Luke sighed.

"Come on, kid, we do this every time you're grounded, you know you gotta take the morning shift"

"Why do you hate me?", he whined.

"Can I trust you'll be ready in 20 minutes?"

He groaned again but nodded.

Luke accepted the nod and left the teenager in the room. After getting himself ready, he prepared breakfast for the rest of the family who wouldn't be up for a minimum of five hours.

At exactly 6:05 Will dragged himself down the stairs, yawning. He was wearing grey sweatpants and a grey hoodie with the hood up.

Luke chuckled at the sight.

"I know you hate me now but when you're older you'll thank me"

"Don't hold your breath", he responded, grabbing a piece of toast.

They hopped in Luke's truck and drove to the diner.

After they finished opening up, Will rested his head on the counter and began to doze off.

Luke walked past him to get to the coffee machine and ruffled his hair up, causing him to spring up immediately and fix it.

"Alright, I know you don't wanna be here right now, but it is what it is. Your actions have to have consequences, Will"

"All this for one detention? You're overreacting", he argued, too tired to care for his tone.

"No, all of this is to prevent future detentions. This 'too cool for school' attitude of yours has got to go"

"I was just late to class. Sue me", he muttered under his breath, tying his apron around his waist.

"Here's a list of chores I want done by the end of the day, if you get through at least half the list by noon, I'll give you an extra hour on your lunch break"

Will took one look at the list, groaned, then shoved it into his back pocket.

"I got it, it'll be done"

Luke patted his son on the back and poured him a cup of decaf coffee.

"Thanks"

* * *

By the time noon had come Will had taken out the trash, restocked the cabinets, done the dishes, gone grocery shopping, and was now mopping the floors.

"Take a break, kid, you did good", Luke told him, handing him a soda, while carrying a plate of food to a table.

Will happily put the mop down, hopped on the counter, and took a gulp of soda.

It was the Saturday lunch rush so the diner was packed with kids, teenagers, adults; basically anybody in Stars Hollow who could go for a good meal and fresh cup of coffee.

Zoe walked in with Nick like she usually does on Saturdays.

"Hey, Zo", Luke greeted while rushing to pour coffee for a table who has been demanding it for ten minutes.

"Hey, Daddy. You remember Nick, right?"

Nick half heartedly put his hand out for Luke to shake and Luke just held up the coffee pot in one hand and the order pad in the other, signifying that his hands were full.

"All the tables are full so you two are gonna have to sit at the counter, have Will take your order"

They walked over to wear Will was sitting on the counter sipping a soda. Will smirked when he saw the two holding hands.

"Dad said you have to serve us", Zoe stated.

"I'm busy now, can I ignore you another time?", Will replied, taking another sip of soda.

"Come on, i just came back from volleyball practice, I'm starving"

"You know where everything is, get it yourself. I've been working all morning, a concept you're not familiar with"

"Come on, Man, lighten up", Nick chimes in, trying to come to Zoe's defense.

This amused Will; he sneered at the two.

Zoe glared at her brother and Will just smirked back.

"Dad! Will's refusing to serve me", she yelled across the diner.

"Dad, tell her I'm on a break!", he added.

Luke rolled his eyes and told the customers he was attending to that he would be right back and they responded with an understanding smile.

He walked back to the counter.

"What's the problem? I got a diner full of hungry people, I don't have time for this"

"Tell Will to take my order, I'm starving"

"Tell Zoe that I'm on a break"

"That's enough, I can't deal with both of you here at once. Here, Zoe, take some money and order a pizza or something for you and Nick", Luke decided, handing Zoe a twenty.

"Thanks, Daddy", Zoe grinned, walking out of the diner with her boyfriend following.

Will rolled his eyes at his sister for getting away with yelling across the diner.

"Will, I have to get back to work. If you wanna go upstairs to the apartment and relax or watch some tv, you can, but I want you back down in an hour and a half"

"Okay, I'll be upstairs", he accepted, hopping off the counter.

As Will walked upstairs, Dylan and Max walked into the diner.

"Thank God, Dylan, Max, grab aprons, I'm swamped", Luke instructed.

The boys did as they were told.

"I thought Will was working a double today", Dylan questioned, taking the coffee mug from Luke.

"I gave him an extra long lunch break, he got a lot of work done this morning", Luke explained.

"Max, can you clear some plates for me, please?", Luke asked his 8 year old son, proving how desperate he was for some help.

Max rolled his eyes, taking after his older brother, but did as he was told.

* * *

 **2:00**

The lunch rush was over and Dylan, Will, and Max were all helping Luke out.

"I really appreciate this guys", Luke thanked them.

"Are you going to pay me or not?", Max asked.

Luke reached into his pocket and took out a ten dollar bill and handed it to the boy.

"Thank you"

"Don't you two have baseball practice?", Luke asked Dylan and Will, finally seeing what time it was.

Both of their heads shot up to look at the clock on the wall.

"Shit", Will muttered, shuffling to grab his stuff.

"See you later, Dad", Dylan waved on his way out.

"Do you need me to come back after practice?", Will asked, hoping the answer was no.

Luke thought for a moment and decided he had given him a hard enough time for today.

"No, go home and rest"

Will grinned.

"Thanks, Dad, you're the best", Will called as he ran out of the diner to make it to practice on time.

"Yeah, yeah"

"Looks like it's just you and me, kid", Luke said to his youngest child.

"Can I have ice cream?", Max asked, not looking up from his gameboy.

* * *

 _Thanks for reading, I hope you guys enjoyed! Sorry it's starting off a little slow I'm trying to introduce the characters you get a sense of their personalities; it'll get better. Let me know what you thought, it really motivates me to write :)_


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3:**

 **Saturday 8:30 PM, Dinner:**

"I'm home", Luke called into the house.

The entire family was sitting at the dinner table waiting for him.

He walked into the dining room, kissed Lorelai on the cheek, and took a seat.

"How was the Inn today?", Luke asked, grabbing a plate.

"Same old, same old. What about the diner?", Lorelai responded.

"Fine. A little busy, everyone helped out a little", Luke said, looking around the table at his sons who were eating and talking amongst themselves.

"Really? Everyone? Even Will?", Lorelai teased her 15 year old, who was known for slacking off sometimes.

"Yep, he did really good today, actually. He did so good I let him go home after baseball practice", Luke confirmed.

"Did I do good enough that I'd be able to sleep in tomorrow morning?", Will asked hopefully.

Everyone at the table rolled their eyes, especially Dylan, who was always stuck taking the morning shift while he was grounded and never once complained.

"Keep dreaming, kid", Luke chuckled.

"What about you, Zo? What'd you do today?", Lorelai asked.

"Just hung around with Nick. I went to the diner after volleyball practice and Will refused to serve me", Zoe answered, smirking at Will.

Will rolled his eyes.

"I'm not gonna apologize, if that's what you're waiting for"

"Daddy, I don't think he should be getting any time off at all when he's being grounded, he was so rude today"

"You're such an annoying brat, just shut up", Will muttered under his breath, not expecting anyone to hear.

"Watch your mouth, Will, not at the dinner table", Luke warned.

"I was with Nick and you basically berated him", Zoe accused.

"I didn't even say a word to him!", Will exclaimed.

"Zoe, Will, just calm down", Lorelai attempted.

"I don't know what you have against Nick and I don't really care, I'd just appreciate it if you would stop being an asshole to us"

"Unbelievable! This entire thing is about Nick, I don't give a crap about your stuck up, good for nothing, boyfriend. In case you haven't noticed, nobody here does!", Will yelled.

"That's enough!", Luke cut in.

"Ooh, Will's gonna get in trouble", Max sang.

Luke looked back and forth between Will and Zoe who were glaring at each other.

"Zoe, Will, go to your rooms", Luke ordered.

"This is so unfair, she started it!", Will accused.

"Why do I have to go to my room? Will's the one who has no respect for other people", Zoe retorted.

"You're both old enough to know not to behave that way, especially at the dinner table. Now, I'm not gonna ask you again, I want you both to go to your rooms"

Without another word they both got up and went to their rooms, leaving Lorelai, Luke, Dylan, and Max.

Lorelai sighed.

"Unbelievable", Luke shook his head.

"What's been going on with those two? I mean, they always fought but not this much", Lorelai wondered.

"I bet it's because Zoe's always hanging out with her boyfriend and Will can't hang out with his girlfriend", Max answered.

"Well, buddy, Will's grounded, he brought it upon himself", Lorelai explained.

"That's no excuse for behaving the way he did tonight"

"Let's change the subject. How was baseball, Dyl?", Lorelai began.

Dylan shrugged.

"Coach said I had to work on throwing on the run"

"Is he gonna play you as pitcher at the next game?", Luke asked.

"He's been playing Will as pitcher at the past few practices, he said I had to work on the defensive responsibilities"

Luke nodded.

"We'll work on it together", Luke told him.

"Me too", Max added.

"Of course, kid", Luke smiled.

"I swear, this entire house revolves around baseball", Lorelai chuckled.

The family talked some more about baseball then switched the topic to Lorelai's new shoes that she had bought recently, the usual deal was that since Lorelai always listened to them talk about baseball, they had to at least pretend to care about Lorelai's shoes or clothes.

"May I be excused, please?", Dylan asked politely after waiting for his mother to finish talking.

"Put your plate in the sink", Luke replied.

Dylan nodded as he got up from the table, then walked to the kitchen and placed his plate into the sink before going upstairs.

He approached his brother's room and walked in.

Will took his headphones off when he saw his brother had walked in.

"What's up?", Will asked.

"Are you good, bro? You seemed a little off today"

"I seemed off? I'd say Zoe _seemed_ off but she actually _is_ off and she's like that everyday"

Dylan laughed.

"I mean, seriously, she's such a pain in the ass. I don't know what her problem was today, but I'm not gonna sit around like everybody else and let her get away with it, I'm gonna continue to call her out on her shit because it's not fair, she never gets in trouble and is allowed to see her dumb boyfriend whenever she wants but I get one detention and I'm grounded", Will rants.

Dylan got into the occasional fights with his siblings, usually with Will. Out of all her brothers, Zoe had the best relationship with Dylan. Max looked up to Will and considered him the 'cool brother' but if he ever had a problem he would turn to Dylan. As for Dylan and Will, they fought the most and were pretty competitive when it came to almost anything.

Will waited for his brother to agree with him and he never did.

"Beautiful. You're siding with Zoe", Will scoffs.

"I didn't even say anything", he defended.

"But you don't agree with me"

"You're pissed at Zoe and I'm not, I'm not in any position to pissed at anyone or take either side"

"You're such a kiss up"

"Who am I kissing up to, Will? Tell me. My little sister?"

"You're kissing up to Dad because you know you'd get in trouble if you said anything about his precious little girl"

"You're delusional", Dylan laughed, walking out of the room.

"Kiss-ass", Will muttered to himself, putting his headphones back on.

* * *

 **Sunday 2:30 pm, Baseball Practice:**

"You two are late", Coach Reynolds announced.

"Sorry, Coach", Dylan apologized.

Will just nodded.

"Now that everyone has decided to show up", the coach starts, narrowing his eyes at Dylan and Will, "let's do some footwork drills".

"Danes, you're pitcher"

"Which one?", Dylan asked, hoping it was him. Though neither of them would straight out admit it, Will and Dylan were pretty competitive when it came to baseball especially because they both wanted to be their team's star pitcher. The game was naturally easy for Will so Dylan worked extra hard. This was all to impress his parents, mainly his father.

"Will", the coach confirmed.

The team spread across the field and stood in line to be pitched at. One by one, Will pitched an easy to contact ball until it came to Dylan's turn.

When it came to Dylan's turn, he threw a subtle curve ball which threw Dylan off guard.

"Strike one!". Coach calls, taking on the role of the umpire.

Dylan threw his arms up to Will as if to say "what was that" and Will just shrugged in response.

Will pitched again, throwing another curve ball, which Dylan was expecting this time. He recognized the balls trajectory and crushed the curveball.

It was a good enough hit that Dylan got a home run, which most of the players were too lazy to do during practice.

"Nice hit, Danes", Coach recognizes.

"Will, switch with your brother, I wanna see him pitch". he ordered.

"Why?"

"Because he obviously doesn't need to work on his batting judging from that home run he just hit, also considering that his position is usually pitcher, wouldn't you agree?"

"No, he hit it out of the park, it wasn't fair territory", Will argued.

"What's your problem?", Dylan confronted Will.

"I don't have a problem", Will responded.

"What the hell was that pitch? You were trying to strike me out"

"That's the point of the game, the pitcher is supposed to retire a batter", Will explained as if Dylan was new to the game, shoving the pitching glove to him.

"You're such an ass", Dylan says, shoving his brother.

"Oh, I'm an ass? You're the one who takes everything so personally. It's a game, Dylan, relax", Will retorts, shoving him back.

"Hey, break it up, you're both on the same team"

"You're just pissed because I'm younger than you but still a better pitcher than you'll ever be", Will smirked.

"Go to hell", Dylan shot back.

"Go back to the orphanage", Will yelled, regretting the words as soon as they left his mouth. Him and his brother fought a lot but Dylan's adoption was a sensitive topic; it was off limits.

Everyone was speechless and no one was sure what to do.

Dylan didn't think twice about tackling Will down to the floor, it looked like a fighting scene straight out of a movie.

The coach and all the players ran towards the brothers and tried to pull the two off each other and break it up.

"What the hell is wrong with you guys?", the coach demanded when both of them were being held back by their teammates.

Neither of them said a word, they just continued glaring at each other.

"Save your family drama for your own house, don't bring it onto the field, you hear me?"

They both nodded.

"I think you two have had enough for today, I'm calling your father to come pick you up"

This caught both of their attentions.

"Coach, you don't have to do that, we can just walk home it's like five minutes", Dylan tried.

"After what I saw a minute ago, I think your parents should be notified"

"That's not necessary", Will added.

"Oh, yes it is, son, don't talk back to me", the Coach warned.

"Nice going, now we're both gonna be grounded", Dylan scowled at his brother.

As mad as he was at Dylan for taking the game so personally, he couldn't bring himself to say anything back, he felt awful about bringing up the orphanage and wished that he could take it back.

He just walked to the bench to get himself a drink of water and ignored everything going on around him.

Dylan watched as Coach Reynolds called Luke and waited to hear the yelling through the phone. Surprisingly enough, there was no yelling, after briefly explaining what happened, the Coach hung up the phone and informed Dylan that his father was on the way.

He was probably saving the yelling for home, Dylan thought to himself.

"Join your brother on the bench until your father shows up and try not to kill each other , I have a practice to run", he ordered.

"Yes, sir", Dylan accepted, walking over to the bench.

They sat in silence the entire ten minutes until Luke showed up. When he showed up they both got up, still without saying a word, and walked back to Luke's truck.

"What, school wasn't enough, now you two have to get into trouble at baseball practice?", Luke demanded when they got into the car.

Neither responded.

"Someone better start talking. What the hell did you two do that was so bad that I had to leave my job, put Cesar in charge, during the lunch rush, to come pick you guys up?"

Dylan sighed.

"We got into a fight", Dylan finally spoke.

"I figured that much, Dylan, are you going to give me any details?"

"Can we just go home?", Will asked.

"No, Will, we cannot just go home. I have to get back to work. So you two are coming with me and I hope you're comfortable in your baseball uniforms because you're going to be working until one of you fesses up to the whole story"

Will groaned and Dylan just sat with his arms crossed.

"Fine, have it your way", Luke stated, as he began to drive.

* * *

 _ **Sorry this took so long to post. Please let me know what you thought, your comments give me inspiration to write haha, I think that's why it took me so long to write this chapter. I promise, Dylan isn't going to be in a bad mood forever lol, I hope you enjoyed :)**_


	4. Chapter 4

**Sunday, Diner 4:00 PM:**

After Luke was forced to pick Dylan and Will up from baseball practice early, he had put them to work in the diner until one of them gave him the whole story; it's been an hour and neither of them had said a word.

Will was taking orders and Dylan was clearing tables. Luke was getting frustrated, he just wanted to know what happened. When they both returned to the counter, without so much as making eye contact with one another, Luke saw it as his opportunity.

"Kitchen, now", he ordered, waiting for them to walk ahead of him. They did as they were told, still without speaking.

"Cesar, could you give us a minute?", Luke asked the man at the stove.

"Are you going to yell at them?", Cesar asks excitedly.

"Most-likely", Will mutters.

"I love it when you yell at them. Just so you know, Luke, Will always tricks me into doing the dishes when it's actually his turn", Cesar says.

Will just rolled his eyes and glared at the cook who was never really fond of him.

"Just go pour refills, Cesar"

When Cesar left, Luke turned to his sons.

He stared at both of them and they stared back.

"One of you two please tell me what happened at practice", Luke spoke.

"Why does it matter?", Will asked.

"I really wouldn't test me, Will, your punishment is supposed to be over by tonight, so unless one of you tells me what happened you're both gonna be grounded"

Will sighed and began to talk but Dylan cut him off.

"It was my fault", Dylan started, cutting his brother off.

"What?", Will and Luke asked in unison, neither of them expecting to hear that.

"Will struck me out, I guess I took it personally, we both said some things, and I tackled him. I threw the first hit and that's why you had to come pick us up, I'm sorry", Dylan lied.

Luke and Will were both shocked.

"Will, could you please step out for a second?", Luke asked.

Will hesitantly got up and walked out of the kitchen, leaving his brother and father.

"Dyl, I gotta say, I wasn't expecting that. That's not like you, what got into you?"

Dylan shrugged, not able to meet his father's eye.

Luke sighed.

"You know you don't handle things with violence, you shouldn't have hit him"

"I know"

"Dylan, I'm really disappointed in you"

"Can you just ground me and get it over with?", Dylan waited impatiently to get his lecture over with.

"Fine, consider yourself grounded for the next two days. I want you straight home after school and I'll be taking you to and from baseball practice, understand?"

"Yes, Dad", Dylan mumbled, handing his father his cell phone.

"You and Will can go home, thank you for at least being honest", Luke told him, putting Dylan's cell phone away.

"Are you sure you don't need any help? I can stay if you need me to", he offered.

"No, I'll be fine, thanks kid"

Dylan nodded and walked out of the kitchen. Will was waiting behind the counter anxiously.

"Why the hell did you do that?", Will demanded.

"Come on, let's go home", Dylan said, ignoring Will's question.

"Why would you take the fall for me? Especially after what I said", Will repeated, as the two walked out of the diner.

"Because I know you didn't mean it and besides you were grounded all weekend, I figured you had had enough", Dylan shrugged.

"Meant it or not, I still shouldn't have said what I said, I'm really sorry, Dyl"

"Don't worry about it, you're still my little brother, I'm supposed to cover for you, I do it for Max all the time", Dylan smirked.

"Oh, so I'm being compared to an 8-year old, huh? Is that what's happening?", Will joked.

"I didn't really lie, I did throw the first hit when I tackled you, so I'm sorry about that"

"Nah, don't be, I _was_ trying to make you look bad", Will smirked.

"Figured that much, too bad I hit a home run", Dylan joked.

They joked the entire way home.

* * *

Lorelai was baking cookies with Max when Dylan and Will walked in.

"Hey, we're in the kitchen", Lorelai called.

"Can we go play baseball?", Max asked his older brothers hopefully.

"Not right now", Will answered, causing Max to pout.

"Max, I thought you were helping me bake", Lorelai reminded him, trying to cheer him up.

Max took one look at the bowl, stuck his hand in it, and licked his fingers.

"Tastes good", he decided.

"Max", Lorelai groaned, taking the bowl and pouring it out.

He giggled.

"How was practice?", Lorelai asked, not aware of what had happened.

The boys looked at each other not sure of how to answer.

"Dad'll tell you", Dylan replied, leaving it at that.

"Dinner's in two hours and please be good tonight, Nick's having dinner with us", Lorelai tells them.

All three boys groaned.

"Mom, can I please go to a friend's house? I don't wanna see him", Will begged.

"No, I promised Zoe that everyone would be on their best behaviors tonight", she replied, referring especially to Will.

"I hate him", Max declared, knowing that Will hates him too.

"Why do you hate him, honey?", Lorelai asked Max.

Max looked at Will for the answer.

"Because he lives on Grandma and Grandma's street in Hartford, thinks he's so much better than all of us because we live in Stars Hollow, he's the definition of stuck up, he's self centered, and put a mirror in his locker", Will rants.

"Don't you have a mirror in your locker?", Dylan asks, smirking.

"That's different. Compare my hair to his hair. If you looked like this, wouldn't you want to remind yourself whenever you were having a bad day?", Will responded cockily.

"Yeah, and he's the self-centered one", Dylan scoffs.

"Speaking of Grandma and Grandpa, this Friday is December 9th, we didn't go to dinner last Friday so we have to go this Friday", Lorelai says.

This caused another round of groans, especially from Dylan who hated going to his grandparents' the most out of all his siblings. They always made Dylan feel like an outsider.

When Lorelai and Luke got married, they continued attending weekly Friday Night Dinners with Emily and Richard, but after they had their third child (Will), it was decided that every other Friday would be fine. It's the same arrangement as it was with Rory; Emily and Richard are paying for Dylan, Will, and Zoe's Chilton education and will be paying for Max's in a few years in exchange for every other Friday Night Dinner.

"Be right back, I'm gonna go throw myself off a bridge", Will joked, only getting a laugh out of Max.

"Yeah, yeah, real funny, go take a shower you both stink", Lorelai teased.

* * *

 **6:45 PM:**

"This is so stupid, why do we have to wait for him?", Max complained.

The family was seated at the dinner table waiting for Nick to show up.

"Yeah, this sucks, I'm starving", Will agreed.

Lorelai looked at Luke for support but even her husband looked unhappy for waiting.

"Quit complaining, he'll be here soon, he's probably stuck in traffic, Hartford's a long drive, you know", Zoe said.

"No, Zoe, I don't know. It's not like we've been driving to Hartford every other week our entire lives", Will replied sarcastically.

"The kid was supposed to be here at 6:30", Luke muttered.

"Zoe, honey, can you call him?", Lorelai asked.

As Zoe pulled out her cell phone, the door bell rang.

"Took him long enough", Will muttered.

Lorelai and Zoe got up to answer the door. When Lorelai saw that Luke wasn't getting up to greet him she motioned for him to get up so he rolled his eyes and reluctantly got up.

"Hey!", Zoe greeted enthusiastically, pulling Nick into a hug.

"Hey, hope I'm not late", Nick responded. Luke was about to say something but Lorelai quickly shoved him.

"No, we just sat down", Zoe lied.

"Hi, Nick, so nice of you to join us", Lorelai said, motioning him to come in.

"Thanks for having me, Mrs. Danes", he replied.

"Mr. Danes, nice to see you again", he attempted, putting his hand out to shake.

"Good to see you too", Luke said, reluctantly shaking his hand.

Nick sat down across from Will and next to Zoe, who was sitting across from Dylan, and Max sat on the other side of Will.

"Dylan, Will, could you bring the food out, please?", Lorelai asked.

They both nodded and walked into the kitchen.

"I hate that kid", Will said once they were alone.

"He's not my favorite person in the world", Dylan admitted, getting the lasagna out of the oven and pouring it into a different bowl.

Will scoffed, getting the salad out of the fridge.

They brought the food out and placed it on the table.

Max grabbed it first and poured it on his plate.

"Max, don't you think we should let our guest get his food first?", Lorelai suggested.

"Nope", Max replied, continuing to pour his food, then handing the spoon to Will.

Luke hid a smirk from Lorelai as he watched his sons pass the bowl one by one around the table ensuring that Nick got the last serving.

Zoe glared at her brothers who were now eating.

Once everyone had started to eat there was an awkward silence.

"This lasagna is delicious, Mrs. Danes", Nick said.

"Actually, I made it", Luke told him in his monotone.

Nick, unsure of how to respond, squirmed a little, getting a laugh out of Will.

"It's really good, sir", Nick tried again.

"Thank you", Luke responded, not looking up from his salad.

"So, Nick, when's varsity baseball ending?, Zoe asked, trying to lighten the tone.

"It ends-", Nick began, but was cut off by Will.

"The same time Dylan and I stop going to varsity practice, Zo", Will said obnoxiously.

"Sorry, I get a little confused, sometimes you two get sent home", Zoe retorted, smiling obnoxiously in return.

"That wasn't varsity, that was the Stars Hollow practice", Dylan defended.

"That's enough", Luke stated.

"I'm a little happy the season's ending, though, I'll have more time to spend with you", Nick smiles at Zoe.

Luke and Will simultaneously rolled their eyes.

Zoe blushed and smiled.

"Christmas break is coming up soon, are you and your family doing anything?", Lorelai asks Nick.

"Yeah, we're going down to our house in Boca Raton, what about you guys?"

"Grandma and Grandpa said we could go to Martha's Vineyard with them", Zoe answered quickly, not wanting her boyfriend to think they weren't doing anything over the holidays.

"Yeah, they did say that and we all said 'no' a second after", Will corrected.

"I think we should go"

"Your mother and I have jobs", Luke reminded her.

"Yeah, my father didn't want to leave the law firm in the hands of anyone else but my mom convinced him everyone needs a vacation", Nick commented.

"How inspiring", Will muttered under his breath.

"Do you guys have a bathroom?", Nick asked.

"No, we pee in a bucket out back", Max answered sarcastically.

Will high-fived him under the table.

"Wow, Max, you're hilarious", Zoe said sarcastically, rolling her eyes.

"Down the hall and to your left", Dylan told him.

"Could this dinner be going any slower?", Dylan complained, when Nick walked into the bathroom.

"Mom, tell everyone to stop being so rude", Zoe said.

"Honey, this is as good as it's gonna get", Lorelai replied.

"It's funny, I've never been allowed to have Taylor over for dinner", Will noted bitterly.

"If you wanna have Taylor over, she's more than welcome", Luke assured him.

"He is being so polite and you're all being insanely rude", Zoe goes on.

"Trust me, I could say so many more things", Will said.

Nick walked out of the bathroom and the awkward silence resumed.

"Can we have dessert?", Max asked.

* * *

 ** _Hope you enjoyed! What do you guys think of Nick? What do you guys want more of? What do you guys want less of? Sorry it's still going a little slow! Tell me what you thought! :)_**

 ** _Guest- Thanks for your review! Will and Zoe aren't twins, Zoe is a few months older:)_**

 ** _McGirl6541- Thanks for your review! I'm probably going to be updating more frequently because I'm on break:)_**

 ** _Nancy- Thanks for your review! I love how you got their personality traits down, it's exactly what I was going for, I'm trying to start off the story in a specific way so the readers get a better understanding of the characters and their personalites:)_**


	5. Chapter 5

**_Merry Christmas, Everyone! This is the second chapter I've posted in the last 24 hours lol. Enjoy!_**

* * *

 **Tuesday, 12:00 PM, Chilton:**

The bell to the fourth class of the day rang, signifying it was finally time for Will's free period.

As he walked through the hallway, he got numerous "hey's" and waves which he responded to with a slight nod of acknowledgement.

He finally saw the one person he was looking for- Taylor.

"Tay", he called, approaching her.

She turned around but didn't say anything. Will knew he had to make it up to her for missing all the parties last weekend and not being able to hang out.

"I had to go to Mike's party alone", she pouted, not greeting him back.

"You know I wish I could've been there"

"I know", she sighed.

"I'll make it up to you, I promise"

"You know how you could make it up to me?"

"How?"

"Stop getting grounded", she teased, playfully shoving him.

"Hey, I haven't gotten in trouble all day", he defended.

"Congrats, you haven't pissed anyone off for a total of four hours", she joked, running her fingers through his hair.

He pulled her close to himself and leaned his back against the lockers.

"Maybe you could stop by the diner tonight during my break and I'll make you something?", Will asked hopefully.

"I don't know", she started hesitantly, pulling away from Will to close her locker.

"Come on, Tay", he smirked.

"First I'd have to take a cab to Stars Hollow then a cab back to Hartford"

Will and Taylor were both 15; they weren't allowed to drive until next year.

"Aren't I worth it?", he smirked again.

"Cocky is what you are", she teased.

"Do you have free?", Will asked.

"Yep, I'm starving, let's go"

They walked to the cafeteria and spotted their usual table in the center of the sophomore side of the table. Their usual seats were saved alongside their friends which was a mixed group of guys who played baseball, lacrosse, and football and girls who did cheerleading.

They sat down next to each other and emerged themselves into conversation.

Dylan sat on the junior side of the lunchroom at a table similar to how Will's was. Today he sat next to one of the cheerleaders who always had a thing for him but Dylan absolutely did not feel the same way considering she was probably one of the dumbest kids in the school; he didn't even know her name.

"What are you doing after school?", she asked, twirling a piece of her blonde hair.

"Baseball", he answered shortly.

"What about after baseball?", she tried again.

"Grounded"

"Come on, Dyl, don't you wanna hang out with me?", she cooed, rubbing his shoulder.

Dylan blushed and looked down, letting out a small laugh.

"Sorry, I can't", he told her, not at all sorry.

* * *

 **Stars Hollow Elementary, 1:00:**

"Max, if I have to tell you one more time to stop throwing that baseball up in the air you're getting another note home!", Max's teacher warned, fed up with his behavior.

Max rolled his eyes. He took off his baseball cap, which he wore backwards, to put his baseball in so it wouldn't roll away after placing it on the floor under his desk.

Max's friends giggled and gave him high fives.

"Would you like to come up here and solve this problem?", she asked Max.

"Not really", he replied, shrugging his shoulders.

"Give it a go", the teacher urged him again.

"No thanks", he smirked, causing an outburst of laughter from the class which encouraged Max to keep going.

"You should explain it again", Max told the teacher.

"Excuse me?"

"You're the teacher, aren't you?"

The class was roaring with laughter by now.

"That's enough class", she said sharply.

"Good one, Max", his best friend, Tyler, whispered.

"Pay attention, everyone", she said, going on with her lesson on long division.

"Do you wanna go to the park after school?", Max whispered to Tyler.

"Yeah", he whispered back.

"I'll get some other players together and we'll get a game going"

"Great"

"Max, Tyler, why are you talking?", the teacher exasperated, sounding more tired than angry.

"Sorry", they replied in unison.

"Perhaps you'd like to tell the rest of the class what was so important that you had to interrupt my lesson"

"Okay", Max shrugged, getting up from his seat.

"Everyone come to the park after school if you wanna play some baseball", he announced.

"What if we don't know how to play?", a girl asked.

"Then you can come to watch my team win", he replied, cocking his eyebrow, a move Will had taught him.

"That's it, Max, I've had enough of your behavior!", the teacher exclaimed.

The class 'oohed'.

She stormed over to her desk and got out a piece of paper. After frantically writing something down, she walked back over to Max and handed it to him.

"I want this signed by a parent and on my desk by tomorrow", she told him.

Max sighed, reluctantly taking the note and shoving it into his backpack. He realized that he would have to be extra cute that night to get away with another note from his teacher.

* * *

 **3:00 PM Diner:**

"I'm hungryyy", Max whined, walking into the diner, as he sometimes does after school.

"Hey, buddy", Luke greeted, putting a plate down at a table.

"Can I have fries?", he asked, leaving his backpack by the floor.

"I'll get Cesar to make you some"

"And a milkshake!", he called as Luke walked into the kitchen.

"I'll bring them out to you when it's ready", Luke assured his impatient 8-year old.

"Where are Will and Dylan?", he asked.

"Varsity", Luke answered, deciding he had some time to sit down at the counter and talk to his son.

"After I eat can I go to the park?"

"Do you have any homework?"

"Nope"

"Really?", Luke asked again, with a non-believing tone.

"I'll do it later"

"Max..."

"Please, Dad", he begged, making his puppy-dog eyes.

Luke rolled his eyes, knowing that he could never say no to the puppy dog eyes.

"Fine, but only for a little while", he gave in.

Max grinned victoriously.

Luke walked away to pour a refill for a customer while Max sat and thought about how he was going to tell his parents about the note home.

When Luke brought Max's food out, he hung out by the counter and watched him eat.

"How was school?", he asked.

"Sucky as usual"

Luke chuckled.

"Did you learn anything new?"

"18", Max simply stated.

"Huh?"

"Just counting how many questions until we get to 20", he replied, eating his fries.

Luke laughed.

"You've been spending too much time with Will and your cousin, Jess", Luke teased, ruffling Max's hair up.

"Is Jess coming home for Christmas?"

"Yep"

"Yes!", Max exclaimed.

The bell above the door rang and Tyler walked in and ran to the counter.

"Max, the game's about to start!", Tyler told him.

Max took a sip of his milkshake and grabbed another fry.

"Bye, Dad, see you later", he called as he ran out of the diner to the park with his friend following.

Luke waved after him.

As Max ran out, Taylor Doose walked in.

Upon walking in, he immediately tripped over Max's backpack which was by the door, and fell down.

"Luke!", Taylor exclaimed furiously.

Luke walked over to help the man up.

"Ah jeez, sorry about that, it's Max's", Luke explains, picking the backpack up from the floor.

"I cannot believe you enable this behavior, Luke, I could have died"

"Taylor, let me explain something to you. I have four kids, Max is 8 years old, I think I'm doing a pretty decent job considering none of them have become convicts yet, so I'm not gonna beat myself up over an 8 year old leaving his backpack by the door"

"Well, Will's pretty close to being one, that should speak volumes", Taylor huffed.

Luke rolled his eyes.

"I'll get you some coffee", Luke told him, taking Max's backpack behind the counter.

As he placed it down, a note fell out of it. Luke reached down to pick it up and when he saw the words 'classroom disruption', he took a closer look at it.

"Max consecutively continues to have a bad attitude, interrupt my lessons, and not follow directions. Please sign your name at the bottom of this letter and have Max return it to me tomorrow. Thank you for your support", Luke read to himself and sighed.

This isn't the first time Luke had gotten a note home, but it's the first time Max had kept it from him. He felt angry at him for getting in trouble again and wondered why his kids continued to act out.

He called Lorelai to ask what he should do.

"Dragonfly Inn", Lorelai spoke.

"Hey, it's me", Luke greeted.

"Hey, hon, what's going on?"

Luke sighed into the phone.

"Well, I found another behavior note in Max's backpack"

Lorelai groaned.

"Not again"

"What do I do? He kept it from me and he's in the park playing baseball with his friends right now"

"Luke, if we punish him, in the past four days we've punished three out of our four kids"

"So, we don't do anything?", Luke asked, confused.

"No, we're going to do something. But what message is that sending? I don't get why they keep getting in trouble"

"I'll figure it out and let you know"

"Okay, keep me posted. I just think he has too much free time on his hands, he's getting to that age where he's testing what he can and can't get away with"

"I'll see you tonight"

"Bye, love you"

"Love you too"

Luke hung up the phone and told Cesar to keep an eye on the diner, he was going to go get Max.

He would usually just wait until he got home but after what Lorelai said, he didn't want Max to think he could get away with keeping stuff from them.

He stormed to the park and saw a crowd of kids surrounding two boys on the floor hitting each other.

Inevitably, one of the boys throwing punches was Max.

"Dammit, Max!", Luke exclaimed, running to the scene.

He broke the fight up and pulled Max away.

"Dad? What are you doing here?", Max said surprised.

"You've gotta be kidding me! What are _you_ doing? Is this how you and your friends play everyday?", Luke demanded.

"You're embarrassing me", Max whispered.

Luke stood back, shocked.

"Why the hell are you getting into a fight in the middle of the park?"

"Andrew said I was cheating! He said I threw a spitball! But I didn't, I'm just that good", Max exclaimed, with a smirk at the end.

"That doesn't, under any circumstances, means it's okay to start hitting each other!"

The group of 8 year olds quickly dispersed, not wanting to get in trouble.

Luke pulled Max back to the diner, then up the stairs to the apartment.

He sat Max down on the couch and paced around him.

Max was secretly frightened, but learned from Will, never to show fear when being punished; it makes you look guilty.

"What do you have to say for yourself?", Luke demanded.

"Sorry?", Max replied more as a question than a statement.

"You sure as hell better be sorry"

Luke continued to pace around the room, trying to think of something to do to stop the bad behavior.

"Max, I don't want you to grow up and think this behavior is okay"

He shrugged.

Luke had to calm himself down; Max just wasn't understanding what he did was wrong.

He pulled the behavior note out of his back pocket and Max's eyes went wide.

"Where did you get that?"

"That's not important. What's important is that you kept this from me"

"I was going to tell you, I promise!"

"When? After you hung out with your friends? Do you think I would've let you play if I had known about the note earlier?"

Max shook his head and looked down.

"I'm not happy with your behavior recently, Max"

The only think Luke could think to do was put the kid over his knee and give him a few swats on the bottom but he didn't want to do that while he was still angry, so that option was out.

"You have too much free time on your hands, you're getting into trouble", Luke decided.

"It was only this time! Andrew called me a cheater but I didn't cheat!"

"So you thought the best way to handle the situation was knock him out?"

"I didn't knock him out", Max mumbled, realizing there was no point in arguing.

"What would've happened if I hadn't found the note and I hadn't come looking for you? Would you have come home with a black eye or with a police officer for giving another kid a black eye?"

Max started to argue but Luke started talking again.

"You're 8 years old! You shouldn't be getting into fights!"

"But Will said-"

"Will's an idiot if he told you to hit anybody who calls you something you don't like!"

"Max, I've decided your punishment and I know you're gonna hate me for it so I'm going to explain the reasoning before I tell you what it is"

Max's shoulders slumped and he frowned.

"You've reached that age where you want more freedom and you want to test what you can and can't do. You have a lot of free time on your hands to do that and that's making me nervous. I want you to do something productive in your free time"

"I'll do my homework as soon as I come home from school, everyday for the rest of my life, I promise!", he tried.

Luke chuckled.

"That's not what I mean, kid"

"Just tell me what my punishment is!"

"I think I'm gonna start giving you regular shifts in the diner", Luke finally told him.

Max's face fell.

"No, anything but that, please!", he begged.

"Nothing crazy, relax, maybe twice a week, an hour after school"

"But I'm a kid, please don't make me!"

"I was younger than you when I started officially helping my dad in the store. Will started when he was 9 and Dylan had always been begging to help me out since he was 7", Luke explained.

"This isn't fair! I can't even reach the counter!"

Luke rubbed his son's knee, feeling a little bad for being so hard on him, now looking at his sad little face.

"I'll probably have you do some dishes, or wipe some tables"

Max groaned; he despised doing dishes.

"But you do those things for me anyways, and now you're gonna get paid for it", Luke reminded him, trying to cheer him up.

"Whatever", he finally accepted.

Luke was doing the right thing, he was sure of it. All he wanted was to make sure his kids were being brought up right.


	6. Chapter 6

**Diner, Tuesday, 5:00 PM:**

"And then he said that I had to start working like actual shifts", Max complained to Will, following him around the diner as he cleared tables.

"For the last time, Max, I don't care", Will replied, walking to the kitchen with Max following.

Will had just come straight from varsity practice so he wasn't in the mood for Max's whining.

"It's not fair", he continued to complain.

Will rolled his eyes and dumped the dirty dishes into the sink.

"You know who would care, though? Dylan. Dylan would care; go tell Dylan what Dad said to you", Will suggested, trying to get Max to leave him alone.

"Dylan's helping Dad move boxes"

Will sighed.

He walked out of the kitchen with Max still trailing behind him.

Surprisingly, he found his girlfriend, Taylor, sitting at the counter looking around.

"Hey, you came", Will smiled, approaching her.

"Of course I did", she smiled back.

"Give me one second", Dylan told her.

He walked to the backroom where Dylan and his dad were moving boxes.

"Dad, I'm gonna go on my break", he informed him.

"Is there anyone else out there?", Luke replied.

"Max is"

"Anyone over the age of 8?"

"Nope"

"Dyl, I got the rest of the boxes. Would you mind watching the diner?", Luke asked.

"Sure", Dylan responded.

"Thanks"

"Okay I'm covered", Will announced, walking back to Taylor, who was talking to Max.

"Get lost, Max", Will ordered.

Taylor laughed.

"Aw, Will, it's okay, he's so cute", Taylor gushed.

Max looked up at Will and smirked.

Will bent down to Max's level and whispered, "if you don't leave right now, I'll tell Mom about that blue vase you broke".

"You broke that vase playing baseball in the house", Max whispered back.

"She doesn't know that", Will smirked.

Max pouted and stormed away.

Taylor giggled.

"That kid looks up to you and you're so mean to him", she teased.

"I'm his big brother, it's my job"

She laughed again and Will hopped on the counter in front of her.

"How about I make you something, like I promised", Will offered.

"You were serious about that?", she remarked.

"Hell, yeah. What do you want? Sandwich? Fries? I can make it"

"Who would've thought that _the_ William Danes, star baseball player, knows how to cook?", she joked.

"You don't believe I can at least make a good sandwich?", he asked, feigning hurt.

"Maybe", she smirked.

"Will finds a way to burn soup", Dylan comments, walking by.

Will jokingly throws a dish rag at him, which Dylan dodges.

"Don't listen to him, follow me and I'll show you how to make a gourmet PB&J"

Taylor followed him to the kitchen, laughing.

"So, first you grab a piece of bread", Will starts, with a straight face.

"Just one?", Taylor asks, in between her laughs.

"Don't get ahead of yourself"

Will pulled her close to himself as he grabbed another piece of bread.

"Peanut butter on one piece, jelly on the other", he explained, as he smothered the jelly and peanut butter.

"Wow, I'm impressed"

"Voila", Will joked with a fake french accent.

Taylor took a bite and smiled.

"Not too shabby", she smirked.

"You have a little peanut butter on your lip, let me get it for you", he smirked back, pulling her into a kiss.

"You're so corny", she laughed.

They proceeded to make out for another few minutes, coming up for air every once in a while.

"Ah, jeez", Luke exclaimed, walking in on the two.

Will and Taylor immediately pulled away in embarrassment.

"Thanks for the heads up, son", Luke muttered, walking out of the kitchen.

As soon as he left they both burst out laughing.

"I'm so embarrassed", Taylor laughed.

"Don't be", Will assured her, pulling her into another kiss.

"I was meaning to ask you if you were coming to the football game on Friday, the one I'm going to be cheering at", she inquired.

Will sighed, the football games weren't really his scene. It's not that he didn't like football, he hated the actual games; all his friends would be there, drunk and annoying. Not that he didn't enjoy having a drink once in a while, he didn't like doing it at football games.

"I wasn't planning on it", he told her honestly.

"It's the last game of the season and you've only been to like three of the games I've cheered at"

"It's gonna be freezing"

"Will, I went to every single one of your baseball games; varsity and Stars Hollow"

"I appreciate that"

"Please, we could do something special afterwards"

"I couldn't even if I wanted to, I have to go to my grandparents for dinner", he remembered.

"Can't you skip it?"

"Tay, you know my grandparents and you know my parents would never let me out of it"

She was visibly upset and Will could tell.

"Will? I need to come into the kitchen, we have customers", Luke called in.

"Gimme a minute", Will called back.

"I should get going anyways, I still need to do my homework", she stated, beginning to walk away.

"Taylor, wait", Will started, following her out of the kitchen.

"I'll see you tomorrow"

"I'll make it up to you, I promise"

"It's fine", she mumbled, used to hearing that. He watched her walk out of the diner and call a cab.

Will groaned and rested his head on the counter in defeat.

"What happened?", Luke asked him knowingly.

"Taylor wants me to go to that stupid football game on Friday because it's the last one and even if I wanted to go, I wouldn't be able to because of the stupid Friday Night Dinner", he complained, removing the baseball cap on his head and smoothing his hair out before putting the cap back on.

"You can't go; you can't go, why does she want you to so badly?", Luke asked, confused.

"Because it's the last game of the season and I've only watched her cheer like three times and she went to every single one of my games"

"I've been there, kid, I know she's upset now but I promise, flowers and chocolate go a long way", Luke empathized with his son.

"Doubt it, Dad"

Luke chuckled and patted Will's back.

"Now she's gonna be pissed at me"

Luke thought for a moment and sighed.

"I'll tell you what. On Friday, I'll cover for you with Grandma and Grandpa, you go to the football game for the halftime show only when Taylor performs, then come to dinner", Luke offers.

It was perfect; Will would still be able to watch Taylor perform but wouldn't have to experience the rest of it.

"Really? You think Mom would be okay with it?"

"I'll talk to Mom, I'm more worried about the Gilmores", Luke admitted.

"Thanks, Dad. You're the best", Will grinned.

"Yeah, yeah"

Will walked outside to tell Taylor he would be able to go to the game after all. Luke watched his son hug the girl and beamed with pride; he was proud of the kids he raised. He looked at Dylan who was taking an order with Max behind him tugging his shirt to get his attention.

Dylan walked over to the counter, order in hand, and Max still following.

"Dad, tell him to leave me alone", Dylan complained, motioning to Max.

"Max", Luke warned. That was enough for Max to step away and start to pout.

Dylan, looking relieved, walked into the kitchen to get the order ready.

Max started to walk away but Luke stopped him.

"Not so fast", Luke said, causing Max to reluctantly turn around.

Luke easily picked the 8 year old up and placed him on the counter so they would be at eye level.

"What's up, Max? Are you still mad at me?", Luke asked.

Max just nodded causing Luke to sigh.

"I don't wanna spend my free time in this place", he whined.

"Well, what are you doing right now? I offered to take you home but you said you wanted to stay here"

"This is different. I don't wanna spend my free time in here and do stuff like dishes"

"All this complaining for two hours a week? I think I'm being more than fair, bud, wouldn't you agree?"

Max shook his head.

"Max, do you think I would do this if I didn't think I was helping you? No offense, kid, but I don't really need an 8 year old running around here like you usually do, I figured you'd earn a little extra cash for helping out and it'd keep you out of trouble", Luke explained.

"Whatever", Max accepts.

"At least try to have an open mind, okay? I hate seeing my boy upset"

He nodded, finally making eye contact with Luke.

"Attaboy", Luke praised, helping him down.

* * *

 ** _Thanks for reading:) This was another filler chapter, sorry it took a while, I was kind of stuck. Any type of feedback is really helpful, guys:)_**


	7. Chapter 7

**Friday, 5:30 PM, Danes House:**

"Max, please lose the baseball cap", Lorelai exasperated, shuffling to get herself together before having to leave for Hartford.

"Why?", Max asked.

"Because she said so", Luke answered before Lorelai could, walking by and taking the cap off Max's head, then ruffling his hair up.

Max slumped his shoulders and stormed away.

"Could you zip this up for me?", Lorelai asked Luke.

Luke zipped up Lorelai's fitted black dress and they both stood in front of the mirror.

"You look beautiful as usual", Luke told her.

She turned her head and kissed him.

"And you will look handsome as usual as soon as you change that tie", Lorelai teased.

"What's wrong with my tie?"

"Luke, honey, everyone knows you don't wear a white shirt and red tie", she smirks, undoing his tie for him.

Luke sighed. He really wasn't in the mood to pick out a different tie and retie it but he knew Lorelai was already stressed enough to go to Friday Night Dinner, he would never want to add to that.

"Fine, I'll change, you make sure the troops are ready", he replied, referring to the kids.

Lorelai kissed him once more before walking out of the bedroom.

"Dylan has been in there for over twenty minutes", Zoe complained when she saw her mom.

"Now you know what it feels like", Dylan called back from inside the bathroom.

Dylan never really took a while getting ready in the bathroom except on the nights of Friday Night Dinner with the grandparents. He dreaded these nights. He didn't want to give his grandparents anything else to criticize him on, considering they don't even acknowledge him most of the night.

"Dylan, get a move on", Lorelai told him.

It's been the same routine every other friday of their lives; complete chaos and madness as everyone struggles to get ready in time.

"Will, I wanna see a collared shirt on you", Lorelai states, walking into her son's bedroom who was just laying on his bed.

"I'm not gonna go to the football game in a collared shirt, Mom", Will responded, rolling his eyes.

"Will, this isn't up for discussion. Dad and I are allowing you to come to dinner late to go to support your girlfriend, don't push me"

His mom was never really this stern so Will knew not to test her.

"Fine", he grumbled, getting up from his bed.

Lorelai moved on to the final part of her little checkpoint, which was Max.

"Max, sweetie, are you ready?", Lorelai called through the closed bedroom door.

"Almost", Max called back.

Lorelai walked into the bedroom and found Max in the clothes she laid out for him, no baseball cap, and tie in hand.

"Do I _have_ to wear a tie?"

"I know, kid, it sucks. But after tonight you won't have to wear one for another two weeks", Lorelai answered, bending down to tie it for him.

Max looked at his reflexion in the mirror and frowned.

"I look like a dweeb"

"You look cute. Gel your hair up and be downstairs in 5 minutes"

"Okay, we have to be out the door in five minutes!", Lorelai announced, loud enough for everyone to hear, as she walked down the stairs.

Zoe had just come out of the bathroom with her makeup fully done and Dylan was putting on cologne. Luke decided it would be safe to check on Will and Max once again.

Will was wearing a light blue collared shirt with jeans and a baseball sweatshirt in hand.

"Did Mom say it was okay to wear jeans?", Luke asked him.

"She didn't say it wasn't okay"

Luke sighed, he knew if he got into an argument with Will they would end up being late.

"At least tuck in your shirt before you go into their house"

"Fine", he accepted, putting the sweatshirt on over his shirt.

"Will, I'm gonna remind you one more time. You coming late to dinner is a one time thing, your butt better be in that dining room right after halftime. Have a cab waiting outside the football field beforehand. Am I understood?"

"Yes", Will replied, relieved that his dad didn't give him a hard time over the jeans.

"Here's $15 for the cab, it shouldn't be more than $8 unless you have him wait outside too long", Luke explained, handing him the money.

Will nodded, stuffing it into his back pocket.

"Get downstairs", Luke told him before moving on to Max.

"Bud, you ready?", Luke asked him, walking in on him playing his gameboy.

"Yeah", he answered, not looking up from his game.

"Then come on, let's go downstairs"

"After this game"

"You can play in the car"

"Give me a minute"

Luke sighed.

He walked over to the bed and lifted him up over his shoulder. Max didn't protest and continued playing his game as Luke walked downstairs while carrying him.

Once everyone was downstairs and looking the way they were supposed to be looking, they piled into the family SUV, which was used mainly for these dinners because it seated exactly six and only on every other friday would all the kids have to be in the same car at once.

Luke drove, Lorelai sat in the passenger seat, Zoe and Max usually sat in the middle row, and Will and Dylan usually sat in the third row.

"Max, I'm getting out first at the school, go sit in the back", Will ordered.

"I get carsick in the back", Max replied.

"Since when?", Will laughed.

"Since always"

"Will, just sit in the back, it's not a big deal", Luke told him.

"Yeah, Will, it's not a big deal", Max smirked.

Will rolled his eyes and glared at his little brother as he shuffled his way to the last row of the car.

Eventually they were on their way to Hartford.

"You all know the drill", Luke started, getting a groan out of all the kids in the car. Luke always ran through the rules of how they would behave at the Gilmore house. He wanted the kids to show their grandparents respect, especially considering the fact they've been paying for each child's Chilton tuition.

"You will be polite, you will keep your attitudes in check, you will not roll your eyes however tempting it may be, and most importantly-"

"Don't argue with Grandma", all the kids finished in unison, used to hearing the same lecture every other week.

* * *

They had dropped Will off at Chilton and he had made it a few minutes before the halftime performance. Now the family stood in front of the impressive house, deciding who should ring the doorbell.

"I had to ring it last time", Lorelai complained.

"It's freezing out here, ring the bell, Max", Zoe said.

"Why me?", Max asked.

Dylan, just wanting to get this night over with, reached over and rang the bell.

A new maid, different from the one two weeks ago, answered the door.

"Hi, we're here for dinner with the Gilmores", Lorelai spoke.

"Of course, come in", she guided.

Once they were inside, she took their coats, then walked them to where Emily and Richard were sitting.

"Oh, there you all are, we were starting to get worried", Emily greeted, getting up to hug each of them.

"Hi, Mom. Hey, Dad", Lorelai replied.

"We were starting to think you forgot", Richard added.

"We could never forget", Luke assured them, shaking Richard's hand.

The kids all greeted their grandparents as Luke and Lorelai sat down.

"Where's Will?", Richard asked, looking amongst the kids.

"He had this thing for school, he'll be here a little late", Lorelai explained vaguely.

"Zoe, you get more and more beautiful every time I see you", Emily gushed, walking with Zoe to the other side of the room.

"Max! How have you been?", Richard greeted with enthusiasm, holding his arms out for a hug. If Richard had a soft spot for any of his grandkids, it was definitely Max.

"Grandpa!", Max exclaimed, jumping into his arms.

Richard gave Dylan a slight smile and walked off, carrying Max in his arms.

This left Dylan awkwardly standing alone. He walked over to the couch where Lorelai and Luke were sitting and sat in the space in between them.

"Do me a favor and pretend to faint, I can say I'm rushing you to the hospital then we can go get a pizza", Lorelai whispered, only half-kidding.

Dylan chuckled as Luke rolled his eyes.

"When are we going to eat?", Max asked.

"Emily, can we get Bernadette to speed things along in the kitchen?", Richard called to Emily who was talking to Zoe.

"Bernadette! Is dinner ready?", Emily called, getting up and walking to the kitchen.

A moment later, the nervous looking maid walked into the room and announced that dinner was ready.

The family piled into the dining room, taking their usual seats and leaving the seat next to Max empty for Will.

"Is Will not joining us tonight?", Emily asked.

"He had a school thing, he'll be here soon", Luke answered.

"What kind of school thing?"

"You know, Mom, just school things", Lorelai replied.

"No, Lorelai, I don't know, that's why I'm asking"

"He went to a football game, Grandma", Zoe stated.

"Lorelai, you allowed him to go to a football game on the same night as dinner?"

"It was the last one and he wanted to go to support his girlfriend", Lorelai explained.

"Well, at least someone here had the decency not to lie to me", Emily commented, smiling at Zoe, who smiled smugly back. Emily then made eye contact with Dylan who was content with managing to stay under the radar up until that moment.

"May I be excused for a moment?", Dylan said, before his grandmother had the chance to somehow blame Will not being at dinner on him.

"No one's stopping you", Emily replied.

Dylan stood up with relief and walked to the bathroom.

He splashed some cold water onto his face and proceeded to enjoy two more minutes of not having to be at the dinner table. He texted Will and asked where he was but got no response.

When Dylan walked back to the table, dinner had already been served.

"So, Luke, how's the diner?", Richard asked.

"It's the same, you know, people have to eat", Luke answered.

"I can imagine it must get awfully busy", Richard commented.

"I help too, Grandpa", Max added.

"Is that so, Max? I guess I'm gonna have to come to the diner more frequently then", Richard smiles.

"You have Max helping too now? Will works there as well, right?", Emily asks.

"Yeah, _both_ Will and Dylan have their regular shifts. And as for Max, we decided on two hours a week, right, buddy?", Luke explained.

Max's shoulders slumped a bit but nodded.

"Isn't Max a little young for that?", Emily noted.

"He's just gonna be doing dishes, Mom. It's not like he's gonna be behind the grill or anything", Lorelai responded.

Emily made a face but didn't say anything else.

* * *

 **Chilton Football Field, 7:15 pm:**

"You were absolutely amazing", Will complimented Taylor, pulling her into a hug.

"Thanks for coming, I know it must've been hard to get out of dinner", she smiled, kissing him over the fence that separated the bleachers and the actual field.

"Speaking of, I should probably get going, I only came to see you perform"

"Can't you stay a little longer? I'm still gonna be cheering throughout the game"

"I wish I could, but my parents and grandparents would flip"

"Fine, go ahead, I'll see you this weekend", Taylor told him.

"Definitely", Will replied, smirking.

They kissed once more before Will turned around and started to head for the exit.

"Danes!", a voice from the bleachers called.

Will looked up to see one of his baseball friends, Liam, waving at him with one hand, and holding a beer in the other.

He waved back but before he knew it, Liam was walking down the bleachers, not completely intoxicated yet.

"Where are you going?", he asked.

"I've gotta get to my grandparents"

Liam began to laugh, thinking that Will was kidding.

"Are you serious? Party at my house after the game, you gonna be there?"

"I wish, man, but seriously, I gotta go"

"Come on, it's friday night, so you're a little late to your grammy's house. You can stay for a few more minutes", he says, beginning to slur his words.

Will looked back at the parking lot where his cab had been waiting for five minutes then back at the field where his girlfriend was stretching.

"I don't know, I'm already late", Will hesitated.

"If you're already late then you've got nothing to lose", he pointed out, guiding Will to the bleachers where all the other baseball players were.

"I guess a few more minutes can't hurt", Will decided, getting a cheer out of his half-drunken friends.

A breeze came by and Will shivered, clearly underdressed for the weather.

"Here, man, this'll warm you up", one of his buddies said, offering him a beer.

He took it without hesitation, deciding he would need it to get through the rest of the night once he got to his grandparents' house.

Luke and Lorelai knew that when Dylan and Will went to parties, they would have the occasional drink and it would be a 'don't ask, don't tell' situation when they got home unless they came home noticeably wasted.

He took a few more sips and continued to ignore the text messages from his family.

A few minutes later, the game had resumed and Will was already done with his first beer of the night. He wasn't exactly new to alcohol consumption so it would take more than one beer to get him drunk.

"Fireball?", Liam offered, holding out the whiskey.

"Nah, man, I'm good. I should really get going", he remembered.

"Come on, Danes. What's with you tonight?"

"Yeah, get the stick out of your ass", another one of his friends slurred.

Will rolled his eyes and took a sip of the fireball whiskey.

Chilton scored a touchdown so the cheerleaders began to cheer, Will immediately spotted Taylor because as she started going through the routine, Will's friends began whistling.

"Go Tay", Will cheered, ignoring his friends.

"She's so hot", Liam commented, now completely slurring his words.

"Shut up", Will replied, not even looking at him.

If it were under different circumstances, Will would be tackling Liam for saying that about his girlfriend but he knew Liam was drunk so he let it slide.

"Meet me under the bleachers after the game, Taylor", Liam shouted, loud enough for everyone to hear. This got a laugh out of all the guys.

Will could see that Taylor looked mortified. He locked eyes with her and gave her a sympathetic look.

"What the hell's your problem, man? That's my girlfriend", Will demanded, getting up from his seat.

"Relax, Will", one of his friends said, before taking another sip of beer.

"Yeah, it's not my fault your girlfriend's smoking hot", Liam smirked.

Will grabbed Liam by his shirt and everyone just watched, too drunk to care.

"Take your shirt off, Taylor!", Liam yelled, not caring for Will's tightening grip on him.

"If you don't get yourself together I'll make you sorry", Will warned.

"We're just kidding around", Liam smirked, stumbling out of Will's grip then looking at Taylor again and whistling.

That was enough for Will.

"Hey, Liam?", Will called.

"Yeah, man?", Liam replied, turning around.

As soon as he turned around, Will sucker punched him.

Everyone was speechless and the security guards who were on the field were now making their way up to the bleachers.

Liam fell back and Will stood in front of him then bent down to Liam on the floor, confused on what had happened.

"Stay away from my girlfriend", Will warned.

"What the hell?", Liam exclaimed, shoving Will away.

The security guards were now in sight and all of Will and Liam's friends had now abandoned them, not wanting to get caught with alcohol.

A fight had broken out and both boys involved were not completely in their right minds.

Will grabbed Liam again but Liam broke loose and punched him in the eye. Will was then tackled to the floor.

The security guards finally arrived and pulled the two off of each other.

"You two are out of here!", one of the guards yelled, pulling them down the stairs.

"What the hell do you two think you're doing?", the other one demanded.

Will knew better than to answer, he was in enough trouble as it was. Once they were dragged away from the crowd the officers began questioning them, smelling alcohol on them.

"This one's completely under the influence", the guard holding Liam noted.

"Get his parents on the phone and notify the headmaster", the other guard told him.

They turned to Will who was trying to keep calm.

"Have you been drinking tonight, son?"

"No, sir", Will lied, knowing he could probably pull off being sober considering he didn't have too much to drink to begin with.

"Then how come you reek of it?"

"My friends were, sir"

"Well getting into a fistfight in the middle of a school football game isn't something that most sober people do"

"I can assure you I wasn't drinking"

The guard looked at him suspiciously but Will was doing a good job of standing still and making sure his dialogue made sense.

"School handbook states you can't stay for the rest of the game, your parents need to come pick you up"

"My parents aren't able to pick me up, I have a cab waiting", Will said, hoping that the cab hadn't left yet.

The guard discussed it with the other guards for a moment and decided they would allow him to go in the cab because there was no proof that he had been drinking.

"I'll let you go this time but the headmaster will be notified of what happened tonight and I can imagine your parents will be too"

Will nodded gratefully.

"Now, get out of here before I change my mind", he ordered.

"Thank you, sir", Will said before rushing off to find his cab.

Thankfully it was still waiting but the cab driver looked very angry.

"You going to 24 Estate Lane, Hartford?", the cab driver asked when Will approached.

"Yeah, I'm so sorry about making you wait", he apologized, getting in.

The cab driver muttered something about rich kids under his breath that Will was glad he couldn't make out.

The cab driver began driving and Will took out his phone and saw he had over 12 missed calls and 30 text messages.

"Shit", he mumbled, knowing he was in a lot of trouble.

"Nice shiner, kid", the cab driver commented, looking in the mirror at him.

"Huh?", Will asked confused.

"Your eye", the driver confirmed.

Will groaned as he took out his phone and looked at his eye in the camera. It was throbbing and beginning to turn black and blue.

Will dreaded the ten minute drive to his grandparents' house, he knew he was about to be in a shitload of trouble.

* * *

 **Gilmore House, 8:05 pm:**

"When can we have dessert?", Max asked, staring at his plate that had been empty for the past twenty minutes.

"Will hasn't even arrived yet, we have to wait for him to at least begin eating his dinner", Emily answered.

"Mom, I'm sure Will won't be hungry when he gets here, really you don't have to wait for him", Lorelai tries.

"No, Lorelai. It's Friday night and on this Friday night Will was supposed to be having dinner here, so we will wait for him to arrive and have his dinner", Emily counters.

"I'm so sorry, Mrs. Gilmore. I'm sure he has an explanation for being so late", Luke adds.

"Who am I to judge your decisions as Will's parents to allow him to go to a football game on the same night as a family dinner?", Emily bitterly replies.

Lorelai sighed and the table sat in silence.

A moment later, everyone turned to look out the window when a car was heard pulling into the driveway.

Dylan almost felt bad for Will, everyone was furious at him.

"I'll go get him", Luke announced, getting up from his seat.

"Dad's gonna yell at him", Max smirked.

Luke stormed outside of the large house to find Will arguing with the cab driver.

"What the hell do you mean it's $45? It was barely a ten minute drive", Will exclaims.

"Listen kid, you had me waiting for at least half an hour, I can't go any cheaper than $45. It's not like it's a big deal to you anyways", the cab driver replied, pointing to the ginormous house.

"Will!", Luke called.

"Dad, I know I'm late, I'm so sorry", Will said quickly.

"We'll talk about it later", Luke replied.

"Are you his father?", the driver asked.

"Yeah, I'm sorry about him making you wait. How much do I owe you?"

"45 bucks. Your kid called me at 7:15 and I was there by 7:20, I waited over half an hour", he explained.

"This is coming out of your allowance", Luke told his son, as he gave the driver a 50 dollar bill.

"I'm assuming I can keep the change", he said obnoxiously, getting into his car.

"Dad, I can explain", Will pleaded.

"We'll talk about this at home, get inside, everyone's waiting"

"Before we go in there, I think I should warn you", Will hesitated, shining his phone's flashlight on his eye.

Luke stared at his son's black eye, shocked.

"What the hell did you do tonight? You went to see your girlfriend, what, did she punch you?", Luke demanded, furiously.

"I got into a little fight"

"Would it have anything to do with the alcohol I'm smelling on your breath?"

"Sorry I didn't have time to freshen myself up", he responds bitterly with sarcasm

"You and I are gonna be having a very long talk tonight and no smart ass remark is gonna get you out of it"

Will sighed.

"This is gonna be a fun one to explain to the Gilmores", Luke muttered, walking into the house with Will following.

* * *

 _ **Thanks for reading! Also, thanks for the reviews, they really helped to motivate me to write this chapter. Tell me what you think and what you wanna read more of! :)**_


	8. Chapter 8

**Danes House, Friday, 10:00 pm:**

"William Danes, what do you have to say for yourself?", Luke demanded.

All the kids had gone upstairs except for Will who now had to explain himself as Lorelai and Luke stood before him. Will was ready to pass out, his head was pounding and he was exhausted, the few drinks he had were starting to get that afterwards effect on him but he couldn't admit it otherwise he'd be in more trouble than he already was.

"I'm sorry", Will mumbled, unable to keep his eyes open.

"How's your eye? Does it hurt?", Lorelai worried, sitting down next to Will and rubbing his back.

"I'm fine, Mom"

Luke sighed, unsure of what to say.

"Kid, I'm not gonna lie, I'm furious at you but I'm giving you the chance to explain yourself. Just tell us what happened", Luke said, softening his tone.

"I don't know, it's all just a blur", he mumbled, laying back on the couch.

Luke took a deep breath then exhaled.

"Alright, get upstairs, we'll talk about this tomorrow"

Will nodded gratefully as he dragged himself up.

"I'll bring you up some ice for your eye", Luke told him.

"Again, I'm really sorry, I didn't mean for that to happen", Will said quietly.

"We know you didn't, Will", Lorelai replied.

Will slowly walked up the stairs, feeling like he was going to trip at any given moment.

"Tonight was a complete disaster", Lorelai groaned.

"Tell me about it", Luke muttered, loosening his tie.

"Do you think Will was drunk?", Lorelai asked.

"He definitely had something to drink but either way, he's getting pretty damn good at covering it up"

* * *

 **Saturday 12:00 pm:**

Will woke up in the same clothes he had on the night before and let out a loud groan. His head was pounding and his eye was killing him.

A moment later, Luke walked into the room.

"About time you woke up", Luke greeted.

"Aren't you supposed to be at the diner?", Will asked, in the middle of a yawn.

"Cesar and Dylan are there"

Luke walked over and sat on the side of Will's bed.

"Are you ready to talk about last night?", Luke asked.

"Shit, it was bad, right?", he muttered, running his fingers through his hair.

Luke nodded.

"I'm sorry", he started, recalling last night's events.

"Headmaster Charleston called. He says you got into a fight with that Liam kid from baseball, he was drunk, and you have detention for a week and you have to help clean the bleachers tonight from last night's game"

"I have to clean the bleachers? You've gotta be kidding me"

Luke shook his head.

"Will, I'm very disappointed in you. I went out on a limb for you so you could support your girlfriend and you completely betrayed my trust"

"I get it, I'm a dumbass. Can you just get to my punishment already?"

"No, Will, you're not a dumbass. You do some dumbass things that get on my nerves"

"Dad, Liam was saying things about Taylor. I was just standing up for my girlfriend"

"That's respectable but it's still no excuse for getting into a fight"

"Were Grandma and Grandpa pissed?", Will asked.

"Well, when you walked in an hour late with a black eye, I don't think they were exactly happy"

"Shit"

"Grandpa invited you to the club tomorrow to go golfing with him"

"Why'd he do that?"

"Because I called them this morning and apologized on your behalf and said how sorry you were that you missed out on spending time with them"

"Dad! Please don't make me go"

"You're going"

"Why?"

"Because, Will. They pay tens of thousands of dollars for you kids to get the best education you can and they only ask to see you twice a month in return. The least you could do is spend an afternoon with your grandpa after screwing up their dinner last night"

"Fine", he gave in, rolling his eyes.

"Well, judging by the amount of eye rolls you've given me in the past five minutes, I'd say your eye's doing better?"

"It's whatever, it doesn't really hurt"

"Do you need more ice?"

"I'll get it when I go downstairs. Can we just get to the rest of my punishment so I can go back to bed?"

Luke chuckled.

"I think it goes without saying that you're gonna be grounded for a week"

"Oh, fun, I have a week of detention and I'm grounded? Might as well just put bars on the windows and only let me out of my room for meals", he muttered sarcastically.

"You know, it's funny, the exact thought crossed my mind as I was paying the cab driver fifty bucks", Luke reminded him, crossing his arms.

Will kept quiet after that.

"For the next week you will be going straight to the diner after detention and helping me till closing, no off days this week, and it shouldn't be a problem considering baseball season ended. Your tips will be going towards the $50 cab fare. And lastly, you're gonna be keeping an eye on Max when he does his two hours a week"

Will's face fell at the last thing.

"Please, anything but that. Dad, come on, _anything_ but that"

"My decision is final"

"Max is so annoying, if i have to be held responsible for him I think I'd end up strangling him"

"Do I have to mention that you and i both know you were drinking last night?"

Will sighed. He had messed up bad last night and his parents were making sure he knew that.

"I got it. I'm sorry, again, especially about the whole Grandma and Grandpa think I know they must've been really pissed"

"Things have gotta change kid, I don't like punishing you so harshly, but I gotta see a change"

Will nodded.

"What time do I have to be at the school tonight?"

"5 pm sharp, we'll leave at 4 and I'll pick you up at 8"

"Wake me up at 3", Will grumbled.

"Nice try, kid. Get up and get ready, you still have your regular diner shift today"

Will groaned and got out of bed.

* * *

 **Diner 3:45 pm:**

"Here you go, Miss. Patty", Will said, as he put down the plate of food.

"Oh, honey, what happened to your eye?", she responded.

"Nothing", Will muttered before walking away.

Patty was the fifth customer to ask him about it today and Will was getting fed up with the nosiness of the town.

"That looks like it hurt", another customer commented, walking by him.

Will rolled his eyes.

"Dad!", he called into the kitchen, fed up.

A moment later, Luke walked out of the kitchen with a dish rag over his shoulder.

"What?"

"Can I do the dishes?", Will asked.

"You hate doing the dishes. Why do you want to?"

"I'm too tired to deal with customers", Will complained bitterly.

"Fine, but watch your tone, you're not in any position to be complaining", Luke replied, tossing him the dish rag.

"Sorry", he mumbled.

"I'll call you in fifteen minutes when it's time to go", Luke told him.

He nodded and walked into the kitchen.

Cesar looked up when he walked in and began to chuckle.

"You really got beat up, didn't you?", Cesar teased.

"I'm fine, thanks for asking", he responded sarcastically, walking to the sink.

"You know, your cousin, Jess, came in with a black eye once", Cesar commented as he cooked the food and Will did the dishes.

"That's fascinating", Will sneered.

"You know, you remind me a lot of Jess"

"Jess told me you hated him"

"Exactly", Cesar smirked.

* * *

 **Chilton, 6:00 pm:**

Will had been sweeping up garbage from the bleachers, along with Liam who had been sweeping the opposite side of the bleachers, for an hour until their supervisor for the night approached him.

"Headmaster Charleston wants to speak to you for a moment", he informed Will.

Will took a deep breath; he was terrified of the man.

"Thanks", he told the supervisor, then reluctantly followed him down to where the headmaster was standing.

"Good afternoon, Headmaster", Will greeted with the most respect he had ever talked to the Headmaster with.

"Mr. Danes", he acknowledged back.

"You wanted to talk to me, sir?"

"Yes, I did, I'd take you into my office, but, tell me, William, what day of the week is it?"

"What day of the week is it?", Will confirmed, confused with where the Headmaster was going with this.

"Yes, William, what day of the week is it?"

"Saturday"

"Right, it's Saturday. As in, it's the weekend. As in, I'm not scheduled to be here today because it's my day off"

Will now understood where this was going and it took all of his strength not to roll his eyes; as if he wanted to be there either.

When Will didn't say anything in response, the Headmaster continued.

"You see, I got a call last night saying that two students got into a fist fight at the football game. I thought to myself there must be some mistake, students who attend Chilton are respectable, young adults. Then they told me the names of the two students and it started to make sense"

Will couldn't hold himself back from rolling his eyes this time but Headmaster Charleston pretended not to notice.

"With all due respect, sir, Liam was drunk, he instigated the fight"

"Witnesses say you threw the first punch"

"He was saying things about my girlfriend", Will argued, raising his voice.

"You know what your problem is? You always have an excuse. Why can't you once just admit you were wrong. Liam has taken responsibility for his actions and has agreed that he should be held accountable"

"Basically that means his parents are going to donate another wing to the school in his name", Will muttered under his breath.

"I'm here, aren't I? I'm spending my Saturday night cleaning your bleachers, I'll be at detention for a week, what else do you want from me?", Will exasperated.

"First off, I want you to watch your tone, young man, have some respect. And second, I want you to take responsibility for your actions"

"Fine, I take full responsibility, I apologize", Will gave in.

"I want you to understand that I could've suspended you, as a matter fact, I should've suspended you. You're lucky your grandparents care about you so much they made a call to the school and vouched for you"

"Yeah, I feel real lucky", Will muttered sarcastically to himself.

"Take some pointers from your older sister, Rory, she graduated from Yale. Don't you want that to be you someday?"

Will was used to teachers comparing him to his siblings. Most of the time they compared him to Dylan but the teachers that also had Rory when she attended Chilton had a hell of a time comparing him to her.

"Gee, it's always been my dream to follow in my sister's footsteps", he said with a hint of sarcasm, enough for the headmaster to notice but not enough for him to get in trouble for it.

"You may get back to work now, Mr. Danes", he dismissed, pointing to the bleachers.

"Yes, sir", Will mumbled.

"I'll see you in detention", he called after him as he walked away.

"Counting down the hours", Will muttered.

* * *

 **Thanks for all the feedback, I think that was why I was able to get this chapter up so quickly! I hope you enjoyed! Tell me what you thought :)**


	9. Chapter 9

**Sunday 10:00 am, Country Club:**

"That was a nice swing, Will", Richard complimented.

"I missed the ball", Will pointed out, confused.

"Yes, but it had great force"

"If you say so, Grandpa"

"Something tells me you wanna take a break", Richard smiled.

"Can we please? It's freezing out here"

"All right then"

Richard handed the golf clubs to the catty before Will and Luke hopped into the golf cart.

"How's your eye doing?"

"It's not as bad as it looks"

"I can imagine you were in a great deal of trouble the other night"

"Yeah, Mom and Dad were pretty pissed at me"

"They just care about you"

"I guess"

"What's your punishment?"

"Where do I start? I'm grounded for a week, I have back to back diner shifts, and the worst part is, I have to keep an eye on Max when he's at the diner"

Richard chuckled at the last part.

"Well, Max certainly is something else"

"Tell me about it"

"Other than that, school's alright?"

"Yeah, I just have detention for a week. Thanks for calling Headmaster Charleston, by the way"

"Glad to help"

"Can we get something to eat? I'm starving", Will asked as the cafe came in sight.

"Certainly"

They got out of the golf cart and walked into the cafe.

"Richard! Long time, no see!", an older man greeted as they walked in.

"Colton, it's been much too long", Richard replied, as Will awkwardly stood beside him.

"Is this your grandson?", Colton asked.

"Yes, he is. Colton, this is my grandson, William. Will, this is my old friend, Colton", Richard introduced.

"Old friend as in old in age and years of knowing each other", Colton joked, shaking Will's hand.

Will forced a laugh and shook the man's hand.

"Nice to meet you, sir", Will greets politely.

"The pleasure's mine. Richard, we must play together soon, I'll call you?"

"I look forward to it"

"Have a good time, give my best to Emily"

"Thank you, and my best to Diana as well", Richard smiled as Colton left.

"The most incompetent and delusional man to ever exist", Richard whispered to Will when Colton was out of sight, getting a smirk out of Will.

* * *

 **Diner, 12:00 pm:**

"How's the homework coming along?", Luke asked Dylan, who had been sitting at the counter for half an hour, working on the same problem.

"It's not. This is impossible", Dylan stressed, used to always understanding the material.

"You'll get it", Luke encouraged before walking into the kitchen.

"Dylan, can you help me with my math homework?", Max, who was sitting beside him, asked.

"Later, I need to do my own first", Dylan answered, not looking up.

"Dad! I need help!", Max called into the kitchen.

Dylan rolled his eyes.

"What is it, Max?", Luke asked, carrying two plates at once.

"I need help with my homework"

"I'm a little busy, bud. Maybe Dylan can help you"

"No, I've got my own to do", Dylan snapped, sounding ruder than he intended.

Both Max and Luke looked surprised.

Dylan sighed, realizing how rude he sounded.

"Sorry, it's just I'm a little stressed, I have a huge trig test tomorrow and all my midterms are coming up"

"If it's too loud, you can go upstairs", Luke offered.

"No, it's fine, it helps me concentrate"

Luke delivered the two plates then walked back to the counter.

"What do we have here?", he asked, analyzing Max's homework.

"Long division"

"Bud, we just went over this"

"I don't get it"

Luke began to help him with the problem when Taylor Doose walked in.

"Everyone! May I have your attention, please?", Taylor announced.

This immediately got Luke's attention.

"What the hell is this, Taylor? I'm trying to run a business"

"I'll only be a minute, Luke. Besides, you look a little busy with your homework"

Luke rolled his eyes and glared at him.

"You have sixty seconds"

"The Stars Hollow annual Christmas tree lighting will take place on Christmas Eve in the town square"

"We know, Taylor, it's the same every year, you don't need to announce it", Babette called from her table.

"It will begin at 5:30 pm and end at, promptly, 9:30 pm", Taylor continued.

"As it does every year", Babette retorted.

"We could use some volunteers, particularly youngsters who are able to do heavy lifting", Taylor said, ignoring Babette.

Taylor's gaze moved to Dylan and he began to walk towards him.

"That's enough of that, Taylor, your time's up", Luke told him.

"Alright then, I would like a fresh cup of coffee", he replied, standing two feet away from Dylan who was concentrated on his homework. He waited for Luke to walk into the kitchen to make a fresh pot then approached Dylan.

"Hi, Dylan", he greeted.

"Hi, Mr. Doose", Dylan replied, not looking up.

"You know, I don't know if you heard my announcement, but I could use some volunteers for the annual Stars Hollow Tree Lighting to help set up"

Dylan was beginning to get annoyed but didn't say anything, he was focused on the same problem he had been trying to get for the past half hour.

"We could really use your help", Taylor prompted.

"I can't", he answered shortly.

"And why is that?"

"I'm busy"

"You're sitting here right now doing absolutely nothing"

"I have school work"

"I have always considered you to be my favorite between you, Jess, and Will, you know"

"I'm honored, really", he muttered sarcastically under his breath.

"This is your town, young man, giving back shouldn't be an issue"

He slammed his pencil down on the counter after attempting to solve the problem and just not getting it.

"I'm not gonna help you set up, Taylor, just leave me alone!", he snapped, louder than he intended, finally looking up from his piece of paper.

When he realized all the diner patrons were looking at him, he blushed.

Luke had just walked out of the kitchen with the cup of coffee in his hand and heard Dylan. He knew it took a lot for Dylan to get angry and Taylor had somehow managed to do that.

"Can't you see he's busy, Taylor?, Luke said.

"I cannot believe you condone this behavior, Luke. It's no wonder none of your kids ever participate in town activities", he huffed, then stormed out of the diner.

Luke rolled his eyes. Instead of pouring the coffee out, he placed it in front of Dylan who looked up at him in surprise, not usually allowing them to drink coffee.

"Thanks", Dylan mumbled, still embarrassed that he had drawn that much attention to himself.

Luke smiled at him.

"I know you're stressed about school, kid. If you want, I can drive you home or to the library"

"I need the background noise to focus"

"Okay, let me know if you need anything else"

* * *

 **Gilmore Mansion, 1:00 pm:**

Richard and Will had returned from the country club and back to the Gilmore house, planning to warm up by the fireplace in Richard's study.

"Emily's having her DAR meeting in the living room, so we have to be quiet unless we want to be greeted by a dozen women with fake smiles whose sole purpose in life is attending these meetings", Richard whispered.

Will nodded, not in the mood to be kissed on the cheek by twelve different women then being bombarded with personal questions.

They walked through the kitchen to avoid being noticed but Emily was in the kitchen explaining to Bernadette how one of the ladies likes her tea made.

"Oh, Richard, Will, I didn't hear you come in", Emily smiled, going over to kiss Will.

"Hi, Grandma"

"Oh, Will, your eye looks horrendous"

Will chuckled and shrugged.

"It's not so bad"

"Unbelievable how you still have to serve a punishment for the other night, isn't that eye of yours bad enough?", Emily complained, fixing Will's hair.

"I'm really sorry about the other night, by the way. I didn't mean to ruin your dinner"

"All is forgiven", Emily smiled.

"Well, Will and I were going to go up to my study to warm up, it's beginning to get very cold, so we're just going to-"

"As long as Will's here, I'm sure my friends from the DAR would love to see him"

"I don't think he has the time, Emily, he has to get going soon", Richard tried.

"Oh, hush up, Richard. I'm going to show off my very striking grandson. Lillian shoves pictures of her dimwitted, unfortunate looking grandson down everyone's throats every week"

Richard gave Will an apologetic look as he followed Emily back into the living room.

"Look who stopped by", Emily announced.

"Is this your grandson, Emily?", a lady asked, smiling.

"Yes, he is, this is William", she introduced.

Emily went around the room and introduced every one individually and each of them kissed Will on each cheek.

"Nice to meet you all", Will said, forcing a smile.

"Emily, you never mentioned you had such a handsome grandson", one of the ladies marveled, whom Will had already forgotten the name of.

"Oh, thank you", Will replied.

"I'm sure you have all the girls going crazy", another one added.

Will smiled politely.

"William, that's quite the shiner you have. What happened to your eye?", Lillian asked.

"I was playing badminton and the birdie hit my eye", Will lied, not wanting to embarrass his grandmother, thinking back to when it had happened to one of his friends in his gym class.

Emily looked grateful.

"Do you attend Chilton, like your older sister, Rory?", another woman asked.

"Yes, I do", he answered shortly, not really wanting to continue the conversation, knowing it would just lead to talking about how amazing Rory is.

"Rory was quite the student. How are you doing in school?"

"Fine"

"Well, William, thank you for joining us, I don't want to keep you away from your grandfather too long", Emily concluded, noticing that Will was getting bored.

Will stood up, gratefully.

"See you later, Grandma", he said, as she gave him a hug then kissed him on the cheek.

"Goodbye", Emily responded.

Will quickly walked up to his grandfather's study and found him reading a newspaper by the fireplace.

"How was it?", he asked.

"I got kissed more in that room than I do behind the bleachers", Will smirked, getting a chuckle out of Richard.

"Do you wanna call your parents? They might be wondering where you are", Richard said.

"Yeah, I should probably be getting back to solitary confinement", Will groaned, taking his cell phone out.

"Tell them we're still at the club and you'll be home in two hours"

"Really?", Will asked surprised.

"I won't tell if you don't", Richard smirked.

Will called the diner and his dad picked up.

"Luke's"

"Hey, Dad, it's Will"

"Hey, Will, where are you?"

"Still at the club. Grandpa and I just finished up our game and now we're getting something to eat", Will lied.

"How was it?"

"Surprisingly, fun"

"Good. When will you be home?"

"Probably two hours maybe two and a half"

"Okay, do you need me to pick you up or do you have enough money on you to call a cab?"

"I'm good with calling a cab"

Richard shook his head at that and motioned for Will to give him the phone.

"Hello, Luke? It's Richard."

"Hi, Mr. Gilmore"

"I wanted to tell you there will be no need for Will to call a cab, I can send him home with the valet"

"In a limo?", Will asked happily.

"In a limousine", Richard confirmed.

"That's really nice of you, Mr. Gilmore, but it won't be necessary. Will's fine in a cab, I'm sure he's been enough of a handful today"

"Not at all, Luke. I'll have the valet drop him off soon. And go easy on him when he gets home"

"Can't make any promises", Luke chuckled.

"See you in two weeks"

"Bye, Mr. Gilmore. Can you give the phone back to Will?"

Richard handed the cell phone back to Will.

"Yeah, Dad?"

"I'm glad you're having a good time with your grandparents, kid. But, you're still grounded, I want you home soon and your cell phone on the kitchen table, okay?"

"Got it", Will sighed.

"Good, I'll see you"

"See you"

Will hung up the phone and turned back to his grandfather.

"I've got an hour until I'm officially grounded again"

"So, tell me about this Taylor girl", Richard smirks.

"Nothing to tell"

"There must be something to tell if you fought your friend for her"

"I guess so. I mean, Taylor's great. We have fun together"

"Good. Will I be getting to meet her?"

Will rolled his eyes but smiled.

"I don't know, Grandpa. To be honest, I haven't talked to her since Friday at the football game, either she's mad at me or knows that I'm not supposed to have my phone."

"She'll come around"

"I hope so, I hope this whole thing was worth it", Will mumbled, referring to the fight.

"Well ask yourself, why do you like her?"

"Because she's my girlfriend"

"Why is she your girlfriend?"

Will sighed.

"I don't know", he shrugged.

"Yes, you do"

"I guess it's because she's sweet. I care about her and I think she cares about me. She keeps me in check and talks me out of doing a lot of stupid things", Will explains, thinking out loud.

Richard smiled.

"Will?"

"Yeah?"

"It was worth it.", Richard states, then picks his newspaper back up.

* * *

 **Danes House, 3:15 pm:**

The limo had dropped Will off at his house and the only car in the driveway was his mom's jeep. Lorelai had come home early to make sure Will didn't sneak out and was sticking to his punishment; Luke and Lorelai had agreed it was time to be a little tougher.

He walked into the house and found his mom sitting in the living room, watching tv.

"Hey", he greeted.

"Hey, how was it?", Lorelai replied.

"Good. What are you doing home?"

"Decided to come home early", she shrugged, but Will wasn't buying it.

He crossed his arms.

"Really?"

"Yep"

"So, it wouldn't have anything to do with the fact I'm grounded?"

"Maybe a little", she admitted, smirking.

"You seriously don't trust me?"

"Let's see. Do I trust you to condone your own punishment in a house full of electronics and the ability to walk anywhere in Stars Hollow and be back before anyone ever knew? No"

He would never admit it, but she was right. His plan was to meet his friends at the park, get a pizza, then come home and watch a movie before anyone came home.

"So, I guess I should be going up to my room now?", Will sighed.

"You guessed correctly, but first, cell phone, please"

Will handed her his cell phone.

"I'll call you down when dinner is ready"

"Can't I just stay down here with you and watch tv?"

"Will, you know your father's rules better than anyone else, you've been grounded enough times to know the drill"

"Fine", he grumbled, dragging himself up the stairs.

Lorelai sighed, she felt bad for being so harsh with Will but she wanted to see improvement.

A few minutes later, Dylan walked in.

"Hey, Dyl", Lorelai greeted.

"Hi", Dylan replied, not in the mood for a conversation, still stressed about school.

"No diner shift today?"

"Dad told me to come home"

"Why? Are you okay?", Lorelai asked, concerned.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I've just got a lot of homework"

"Ok, do you want something to eat?"

"No, Mom, I have to get my homework done", he said abruptly.

Lorelai knew Dylan didn't do well under stress, because when it came to school, he was used to always being on top of things. So, she knew to back off; it was that time of the year where all the tests were happening. For the most part, aside from being competitive with Will, Dylan was usually easy going and not prone to starting arguments or not being respectful to his parents and elders.

"I'll let you get to it, then", she affirmed.

Dylan walked up the stairs and to his bedroom.

Will was sitting on his bed, throwing a baseball up into the air then catching it with his mitt, when he heard Dylan's bedroom door close. Being incredibly bored, he got out of his bed and walked to his brother's room.

"Hey", Will greeted.

"Hey, I really can't talk right now"

"Why? Afraid that Dad will yell at you for fraternizing with the inmate?", Will joked.

"I have to study. I just don't understand this topic for trig. We're doing logs and not only do I have a huge test on it tomorrow, I have all my midterms this week", Dylan went on, setting his books out on his table.

"So you're officially in 'Dylan in Distress' mode?", Will laughed at his own joke.

Dylan rolled his eyes, Will made that joke every year when Dylan began to get stressed for midterms and finals.

"Get out of my room, I don't have time for this"

"Relax"

"I'll relax when report cards come out and I won't be grounded because I failed every single test", Dylan retorted, taking a jab at Will's grades.

This wasn't really true; Will got average grades without trying because he was naturally smart. He almost never studies for tests, does his homework when he feels like it, but never actually fails. His grades aren't exceptional, like Dylan's, but it's not expected of him. Dylan, on the other hand, has a higher bar set and is expected to reach those expectations.

"Don't take life so seriously, it's not like you're gonna get out alive", Will joked again.

"You're so annoying! I'm serious, get out"

"Alright, alright, I'm leaving", he surrendered, getting up and walking back to his room.

Dylan spent the rest of the night studying in his room, only coming downstairs for dinner. This wasn't unusual, it was that time of the year and the family knew not to stress Dylan out even more than he already was.

* * *

 ** _Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed! Is there anything you would like to see more of or less of? Please let me know, it really helps! :)_**


	10. Chapter 10

**Chilton, Monday, 9:00 am:**

"Mr. Danes!", Mr. Remmy snaps at a sleeping Dylan. Dylan had fallen asleep in the middle of his history class.

When he didn't wake up after Mr. Remmy called his name, Mr. Remmy went over to Dylan's desk and slammed his knee under it causing Dylan to immediately spring up.

It took him a moment to realize where he was then blushed when he realized he had fallen asleep in the middle of class. He had been studying all night.

"This is why you're not understanding the material, young man, this is unacceptable", Mr. Remmy stated angrily.

"Sorry, sir, it won't happen again", he said groggily.

"It better not. You have your midterm this week, I hope you're prepared"

"Yes, sir", he replied.

"Sorry to have disturbed your little nap, now that you're up, maybe you could give us a brief explanation on Spanish and French Exploration", Mr. Remmy smirked.

Dylan thought in his head, he had began to study this very topic last night when he moved on from trigonometry before he went down for dinner but it was drawing a blank.

"Um, Columbus's return from the new world created an abundance of activity throughout Europe", he recited from memory.

"Wrong", Mr. Remmy deemed.

"Wrong?", Dylan asked, confused, he was sure he was right. The class mumbled in confusion.

"Wrong as in you're just memorizing the material and reciting it word for word, you're not understanding it"

"I understand it, sir", Dylan said, getting a little frustrated, but keeping his tone in check.

"If you insist you understand it, then go further into detail", he challenged.

Dylan thought the whole thing was ridiculous.

"Old World monarchs sent explorers like Jacques Cartier to spread their beliefs and bring back stuff", Dylan went on.

"What type of stuff?"

"Excuse me?", Dylan said, not believing he was taking it this far.

"You heard me, Mr. Danes. I asked you what type of stuff they brought back. What did they bring back? Where did they go back? Where were they sent?"

"Are you kidding me?", Dylan ridiculed.

"Do I look like I'm kidding, Dylan? These are all questions anyone who actually understood the topic of Spanish and French Exploration, which by the way will be on your midterm, could answer easily"

"With all due respect, sir, maybe you could call on someone else", Dylan requested, trying to hide his frustration. The last thing he needed before a week of midterms was a teacher who was out to embarrass him and convince him that he didn't understand a topic.

"Let me think, did anyone else fall asleep in class today?", he mocked.

"Maybe if you would actually teach the material I wouldn't have to be up all night, studying", Dylan muttered under his breath.

"What was that, young man?"

"I said, sorry I fell asleep, I was up all night studying", Dylan lied.

"You should learn to manage your time better"

"Thanks for the tip", Dylan grumbled.

* * *

 **Chilton, 2:30 pm:**

Will sighed as the clock hit the thirty, marking the first fifteen minutes of his detention. He and Liam were the only one in the room and Headmaster Charleston was supervising them.

"I hope you two have seen the error of your ways", Headmaster Charleston said.

"Yeah, I know I have, so can I go home?", Liam replied.

Liam was allowed to say things like that; his parents were one of the top donors of the school, they donated more money every year than all three of Dylan, Max, and Will's tuitions combined. Even though Headmaster Charleston knew Will's grandparents, it didn't benefit him in anyway because he wasn't Rory. Headmaster Charleston was well aware that Will came from an average household. He knew that Luke owned a diner and wasn't some sort of doctor or lawyer, and it was evident when Luke and Headmaster Charleston first met, that he didn't speak to Luke with the same respect he spoke to the other parents.

Will just stayed silent and looked straight ahead.

"You two have an hour left"

Neither of the boys said anything. Will was used to being in detention, it didn't phase him anymore, but it didn't mean he wasn't bored.

"William, you've been silent. What's the matter, said enough on the bleachers last friday night?", Headmaster Charleston questioned obnoxiously.

Will held himself back from rolling his eyes, he knew he would get at least another hour of detention for it.

"No, sir. I thought the whole point of detention was to sit in silence and think about what you've done", Will answered with a hint of sarcasm.

"Well, if one person would know the point of detention, it would be you", the headmaster replied.

The more he sat in this room and dealt with the strict, obnoxious teachers, the more he blamed Rory for going here and succeeding. She set the bar too high and Will was pissed about it.

"Headmaster Charleston, I have to use the restroom", Liam announced, sounding like a kid in a kindergarten classroom.

"I can't allow you to leave this room, Liam"

"It's an emergency, sir"

He thought for a moment and sighed.

"Very well, make it quick"

Liam happily got up from his seat and walked out of the room, well aware that Will was shooting daggers at him.

"Excuse me, Headmaster Charleston?", Will started, not able to keep in his thoughts anymore.

"What is it, Mr. Danes?"

"I thought we weren't allowed to leave the room"

"An emergency is an emergency"

"You know, it's funny, the last time I had detention, I asked to go to the bathroom and you made me wait until my detention was over"

"Watch your tone, Mr. Danes"

"One more thing, sir. How is it that Liam and I have the same exact punishment but Liam was the one who was drunk? You said that you should have suspended me for getting into a fight at the football game, but not only was Liam in that fight, he was also drunk. According to the handbook, which thanks to you for making me rewrite it at my last three detentions so I know it word by word, being under the influence of alcohol on school property results in an automatic suspension or even possible expulsion", Will ranted.

"You better watch the way you speak to me, young man. Another student's sentence is none of your business. Consider yourself lucky to be attending such a prestigious school in the first place, don't concern yourself with the business of other students"

Will glared at the headmaster.

"Would you like another day of detention?"

Will sighed and shook his head. He had a lot of things he wanted to reply with but he couldn't get in trouble again, he was already on thin ice with his parents.

He sat in silence for the remainder of the hour.

* * *

 **Diner, 4:30 pm:**

Will dragged himself into the packed diner and found his dad behind the counter, arguing with Kirk. He could tell just by the look on his face that Luke wasn't in the mood. Luke's mood probably had to with having to man the diner by himself. During midterm week, it was established that Dylan would spend every second he had to study, so he was excused from diner shifts. Will, on the other hand, would rather be busting tables than locked in his room with a text book in front of him.

Will walked behind the counter to retrieve his apron without bothering his father.

He refilled coffees and cleaned off tables. Finally, Kirk ran out of the diner and Luke turned to Will.

"Didn't see you come in", Luke commented, handing him a rag for the tables.

"Looked a little busy with your buddy, Kirk", Will smirked.

Luke rolled his eyes.

"How was detention?", Luke asked.

It was now Will's turn to roll his eyes.

"I'd say it served its purpose, I felt detained", Will replied. Luke was used to the snarky comments, it had become routine.

"Maybe next time you'll think twice about doing something stupid", Luke said, patting Will's back.

"Whatever", Will mumbles.

"Did you at least use your time in detention to study for your midterms?", Luke asked.

"Would it make you happy if I said yes?"

"Will...", Luke warned.

"Dad, I'm fine. Not everyone becomes a nutcase during testing week, like Dylan", Will assures him, going over to clean off a table.

"Poor kid puts so much pressure on himself", Luke sympathizes.

Lorelai and Zoe walked into the diner and Lorelai immediately approached the counter where Will was now standing.

"How's my favorite offspring in the entire world doing?", Lorelai approaches Will, who had the coffee pot in his hand.

"Dad said I can't give you anymore coffee", Will replied.

"Please", Lorelai begs.

"Nope"

"But Will-"

"I've got customers", Will smirked, walking away from the two.

"Mom, can we just go already? We can get coffee from the mall", Zoe tried, wanting to get going already. Lorelai had promised Zoe that she would take her shopping sometime this week.

"It won't be as good", Lorelai pouted.

Luke walked out of the kitchen and smiled when he saw the two girls.

"Hey", he greeted, going over to kiss both of them.

"Hi, Daddy", Zoe smiled.

"Have I ever told you how lucky I am to have the best husband in the world?", Lorelai tried again.

"Nice try, you've had five cups today"

"This isn't fair", Lorelai pouted.

"Yeah, yeah. Where are you two going?"

"The mall", Zoe answered.

Luke made a face.

Will walked back to the counter with the coffee pot and handed it to Luke.

"We're going shopping", Lorelai confirmed.

"For what?", Luke asked.

"I need new clothes", Zoe stated as if it were obvious.

"For your date this weekend?", Will smirked, having overheard Zoe talk about it on the phone.

"Mind your own business", Zoe glared.

"I would, but then I'd have less to annoy you with", Will sneered.

"Will, that's enough. Go make yourself useful and take out the trash", Luke told him.

"Zoe, you heard Dad, get out", Will joked, resulting in a smack on the back of his head from Luke.

Zoe rolled her eyes.

"Let's go, Mom"

"Just one cup", Lorelai tried once more.

"Nope", Luke answered.

"Fine. I'll settle for Starbucks", she concluded then walked out of the diner, following Zoe.

* * *

 **Hartford Mall, 5:15:**

"Try this one", Lorelai said, handing her daughter a shirt she had picked out. They were in the clearance section of Bloomingdales.

Zoe took one look at it and scowled.

"Are you kidding? Mom, I have to look good this Saturday!"

"Alright, alright, calm down, you'll look good in whatever you'll end up wearing", Lorelai told her, running her hand through Zoe's, wavy, brunette hair.

This reminded her of when she would go shopping with Rory. Except Rory would usually love what Lorelai picked out for her.

"I'm gonna go look on the regular racks", Zoe told her then walked away.

Lorelai sighed, knowing that Zoe would pick out the most expensive clothes she could find.

Sure enough, within five minutes, she walked back with dozens of blouses and two pairs of jeans.

"I'm gonna go try these on", Zoe informed her.

Lorelai followed her towards the dressing room and sat outside the room she went into.

Lorelai watched Zoe walk out in all the outfits she had picked out and gave her opinion on each of them, which clearly went in one ear and out the other for her because when she had her final decisions, she had picked out all three of the outfits Lorelai didn't like.

Lorelai looked through the clothing and at the price tags.

"Honey, this is way too much for a shirt", she said upon looking at the first item.

"That one's my favorite, it looked the best on me"

Lorelai looked through the other ones, seeing that the first wasn't even the most expensive.

"Zo, your father would kill me if I bought all of these for you, or worse, cut off my coffee all together", Lorelai told her.

"But I need new clothes", she argued.

"I promised I would get you new clothes and I will"

"I want these clothes. This is what everyone's wearing"

"Why don't we check out Macy's? Rory and I would always-"

"Mom! When will you get it? I'm not Rory! I don't wanna go to Macy's! Everyone from school shops here", she exclaimed.

"Lower your voice, Zoe"

"No, this is so unfair. Just because Rory had no taste, doesn't mean I can't have any"

"You need to calm down"

"No, I'm not going to calm down, you said you would buy me new clothes"

"Yes, I did say that. I didn't say I would spend a week's worth of work at the Inn on a few shirts"

"So, you're not gonna buy them for me?"

"With this attitude of yours?"

"Fine, don't buy them for me! Let's just go home", Zoe decided.

Lorelai sighed, feeling guilty. She knew what being a teenager was like; you had to dress like everyone else or you were considered an outcast.

"How about we both take a deep breath then look at some other stores?", Lorelai suggested.

Zoe just glared at her and crossed her arms.

"I don't want clothes from any other store"

"Then I don't know what to tell you"

"Let's just go"

"Is that really what you want?"

"Yep"

"Fine, let's go"

Lorelai couldn't believe how stubborn her daughter was being, it was ridiculous.

Zoe wasn't about to settle for anything other than what she wanted, she had already decided that tomorrow she would go to her grandmother's house after school and go shopping with her.

* * *

 **Danes House 8:30 pm:**

"Will, straight up to your room, okay?", Luke reminded his son as they stepped inside the house.

"Yeah, I got it", Will muttered.

They walked into an almost empty living room, which was surprising considering the amount of people that lived in the house.

Max was watching tv alone, looking content for finally getting the remote all to himself.

"Hey, buddy, where's everyone?" Luke asked Max.

"Mom and Zoe are in a fight so Mom's doing laundry and Zoe's on the phone with her friend complaining about Mom. And Dylan's studying again", Max answered, not even looking up from his cartoon.

"Why are Mom and Zoe in a fight?", Luke asked.

Max shrugged.

"I should probably go talk to Mom", Luke decided.

"Can I, at least, hang out down here with my little brother for a bit?", Will asked, plastering an innocent smile on his face then pointing to Max.

"You're not getting the remote", Max stated simply.

"You're grounded, you know that. What you _can_ do is take out the trash then go up to your room and study", Luke told him.

Will rolled his eyes but obediently went to get the trash.

"Max, it's a school night, start getting ready for bed"

"Okay"

"I want you in your bed by 9:00, latest, got it?"

"Yeah, yeah", Max replied, not moving his eyes from the tv screen.

Luke accepted that then walked to the laundry room where Lorelai usually is when she's in a fight with one of the kids or Luke.

"Hey", Luke said softly.

"Hey, hon", Lorelai replied, folding one of Dylan's school shirts.

"Are you okay?", Luke asked.

"Oh, me? You mean besides the fact I raised a daughter who hates my guts? Other than that, I'm just peachy"

"Come on, you know Zoe doesn't hate you, she's a teenage girl"

"Rory and I were never like this"

"Well, Zoe's not Rory, they have completely different personalities"

"Yeah, she's made it perfectly clear she doesn't want to be associated with Rory"

"I see the way she gets when she has to listen to her grandparents, her teachers, and everyone go on about how amazing Rory is, we have to cut her some slack", Luke tried, stepping closer to Lorelai.

Luke had a huge soft spot for his little girl and everyone knew it, however, he was used to mediating fights between Lorelai and Zoe.

"You weren't there today, Luke, I didn't know what to do"

"What happened?"

"She was acting exactly the way we always said we would never raise our kids. She was acting like a brat"

Luke sighed.

"I'll talk to her, don't worry about it, it's all gonna be okay"

"She's our daughter, I would like to have a relationship with her. But, whether or not she chooses to like me should not depend on if I get her a $150 shirt", Lorelai goes on, shoving the laundry basket to the side.

Luke pulled Lorelai close to him and comforted her.

"I get it, I promise I'll fix it"

"Luke, I obviously _love_ her, but I want to be able to say I _like_ her as a person", Lorelai exasperated.

Luke kissed Lorelai and held her in her arms for a few moments. It was a nice moment, a moment they needed once in a while when life with four kids got a little overwhelming.

* * *

 **Thank you for reading and thank you for the reviews, from the reviews I read, you guys seem to know where I plan to be going with this fanfic! Let me know what you liked and what you didn't like, I absolutely love to read your reviews! Thanks! :)**


	11. Chapter 11

**Chilton, 9:30 am, Tuesday:**

Dylan ran into the testing room, making it just in time. It had begun to snow so Luke had to drive very carefully and slowly causing the kids to almost be late for their exams.

Testing week had officially begun. Dylan's first test of the week had just started and much to his dismay, it was his history midterm. He hated starting testing week off with his worst subject because it discouraged him.

He had finished the first three questions and was already unsure of his answer choices. He flipped to the next page and his heart sank; everything he had studied was starting to get jumbled as he read more questions. Dylan never really felt this nervous, he was usually a very good test-taker, but he was worried he wouldn't do well and disappoint his parents.

He took a deep breath and began to bubble in some answers.

* * *

"William Danes", the proctor called to a sleeping Will to wake him up. When he didn't wake up, he walked towards his desk.

"William!", he repeated louder.

Will slowly lifted his head up and yawned.

"My bad", Will muttered.

"The test started almost an hour ago and you haven't even started!", he exclaimed, lifting Will's test up.

The class chuckled at him.

"Nice one, Danes", one of his baseball friends from the back of the room called.

Will turned around and smirked.

"Just taking a little break, I'll start now", Will assured the furious proctor.

He opened the test up and breezed through the first few pages, marking down his answers.

Will never really got stressed for test because he was in all of the easy classes; it was all light work.

He glanced up at the proctor who was staring him down, looking surprised.

He shot him his signature smirk and went back to taking his test.

* * *

There was only half an hour left and Dylan was only halfway done. His stomach dropped when the testing proctor wrote '30 minutes left' on the chalkboard.

He looked down at his paper and his mind just went blank. He couldn't afford to lose any more points on this test than he probably already had.

He glanced around the room and his eyes landed on the kid next to him's scantron. The kid was already done with his test and was checking it over, so his scantron was just laying at the side.

The kid was a genius, his lowest grade in the class was a 97, which happened to be Dylan's highest grade. This was very hard to do in an AP class.

Dylan decided he had no choice but to cheat.

He began to quickly fill in answers on his scantron and change a few of his prior answers.

Dylan was so concentrated on making sure he had correctly matched each number with each answer choice, he didn't notice the proctor walking towards him.

He looked back at the kid's paper then his eyes fell on the proctor who was standing right in front of him.

He tried to play it off like he was checking the time but it was too late.

The proctor cleared his throat and Dylan's heart was beating out of his chest.

"Mr. Danes, are you aware that cheating results in an automatic zero?"

The entire class turned around and looked at him, shocked; Dylan never got in trouble.

"Y-yes, sir", Dylan stuttered.

"Go to Headmaster Charleston's office", he ordered, grabbing Dylan's test.

"But-"

"Right now, Mr. Danes, he will determine your punishment"

Dylan got out of his seat and walked out of the room.

When he was out into the hallway, he leaned his head on a locker for a minute trying to evaluate the damage that was about to be done. This had never happened to him before and he was terrified.

He walked to the principal's office and the secretary raised her eyebrows when she saw someone walk in.

"I have to talk to the Headmaster", he told her, keeping the explanation vague.

She looked up at the clock, confused because it wasn't 11:30 yet.

"Go ahead", she said.

"Thank you", Dylan mumbled.

He knocked on the door then walked in a moment later.

Headmaster Charleston looked up at who had just walked in. He had told all of the proctors that if a student was caught cheating, they were to be sent to his office, he had not expected Dylan Danes to walk in.

"Take a seat, Mr. Danes", he ordered.

By the tone of his voice, Dylan could tell that he already knew about what Dylan had done.

Dylan took a seat without saying a word.

"So, you were caught cheating", the headmaster began, not wasting a moment.

Dylan nodded slowly.

"I'm not going to lie to you, Dylan, I'm very disappointed in you. You were the last person I expected to walk through my door"

Dylan looked down and blushed.

"What do you have to say for yourself?"

He shrugged.

"I don't understand why you would do this to yourself. You didn't just cheat on your midterm, you cheated yourself. Did you not adequately prepare?"

"No, sir, you can ask anyone, I've spent every spare second I've had, studying"

"You're a very good student, Dylan, you should have trusted yourself"

"Yes, sir", Dylan mumbled.

"Well, obviously, you will be receiving a zero on your history midterm and-"

"Headmaster, please!", Dylan cut him off, on the verge of tears.

"It's Chilton policy, Dylan"

"Please, I can't get a zero. That'll completely dock my GPA and ruin my chances of getting into any university"

Headmaster Charleston felt sorry for the boy, it was evident he was under a lot of stress.

"I understand what I did was wrong and I swear it won't happen again"

The Headmaster looked at his pleading face then back down at the folder he had just pulled out with Dylan's name on it. It was Dylan's record.

It was almost squeaky clean except for two detentions.

"Freshmen year you got detention for taking part in some sort of shenanigan after school hours", he read out loud from the record.

"It was the baseball team's initiation", Dylan explained.

"Then sophomore year you had another detention for uniform"

"I wore the wrong shoes to school", Dylan explained sheepishly.

"This may be one of the cleanest records I've seen in a while"

"Yes, sir, this has never happened to me before, I can't afford a zero"

The Headmaster sighed and flipped through some papers, looking for a loophole.

"You'll have to retake the test, a different version of course, slightly more difficult", he started.

Dylan nodded gratefully.

"Don't get too excited, in return, you will be suspended for the rest of the day and receive a week of detention"

"Will it show up on my permanent record?"

"No, this will not tarnish your record"

Dylan relaxed a little after that but his nerves were still all over the place knowing his parents would be furious.

"Consider this your warning, young man, this better not happen again"

Dylan nodded.

"I'm going to call your parents to come pick you up, I suggest you spend your day studying, your make up exam will be tomorrow after school. I'll explain to your parents what happened then if you would like, I'll give the phone to you"

"No, thank you", he responded quietly. Dylan didn't have it in him to speak to his parents just yet.

As the headmaster left the room Dylan cursed himself for being so dumb in the first place. His parents were going to be furious with him, even worse, they were going to be very disappointed.

After five minutes, Headmaster Charleston walked back into the room and Dylan sat up in his seat.

"Well, I talked to your parents. They wanted to speak with you but I told them you were gathering your things"

"Thanks"

"Because of the snow storm, they won't be able to pick you up so I called your grandparents and they are on their way"

"My grandparents?", Dylan asked in disbelief.

"Yes"

"Did you tell them what happened?"

"Yes, I explained the circumstances of why they would have to pick you up in the middle of a snow storm"

"Oh my God", Dylan muttered to his self.

"Is there a problem?"

"N-no, sir, thank you"

"Go get your things"

Dylan got up and started to walk out of the room but the headmaster stopped him.

"Mr. Danes, this is a one time thing. If this happens again, I will not hesitate to give you a zero and put this on your permanent record. Am I understood?"

"Yes"

* * *

 **Chilton, 11:45:**

Emily and Richard walked into the school and headed for the headmaster's office. When Emily was called to come pick Dylan up, she told Richard to come with her to speak with the headmaster to see if there was anything they could do to help Dylan.

They found Dylan in Headmaster Charleston's office, sitting across from him, looking like he wanted to be anywhere else.

"Hello, Hanlin", Emily greeted.

"Emily, Richard", Headmaster Charleston greeted, getting up from his seat.

"Nice to see you again", Richard told him, shaking his hand.

"Though I wish it were under better circumstances", Emily added, glancing at Dylan.

"As do I, I do apologize for making you two drive in the snow. I hope it wasn't too much of an inconvenience", the headmaster said.

"Thank you for coming to pick me up", Dylan said, not looking his grandparents in the eye.

Emily nodded at the boy then turned back to the headmaster.

"So, Hanlin, what type of damage are we looking at?"

"Dylan and I have already discussed this and reached a compromise, isn't that right, Dylan?"

"Yes, sir"

"I would like to hear what this compromise is", Emily said.

Richard took the seat next to Dylan. Dylan glanced at him and Richard gave him a sympathetic look in return.

"Don't beat yourself up too bad", Richard whispered to him, patting his shoulder.

Dylan was surprised at how much Emily was trying to bargain with the headmaster and how they hadn't yelled at him yet. Frankly, he was even surprised they came to pick him up in the first place.

"You call this a compromise?", Emily demanded in disbelief.

"Now, Emily, this won't go on his permanent record which in itself is a blessing"

"A week of detention and a day's suspension? That's preposterous and extraneous"

"Cheating is a serious offense"

"And is also his first offense"

"I understand that, Emily, but there is nothing more I can do"

"Hanlin, I'm not asking you as the Headmaster of the school that all of my grandchildren have attended. I'm _telling_ you as my friend. I want you to change this punishment"

"Emily, I-"

"You and I both know I will not leave until you give him something fair"

Dylan exchanged a look with his grandfather who looked just as surprised.

"My hands are tied"

"Hanlin, after all these years, there must be something you could do"

Headmaster Charleston sighed then looked through the school handbook again.

"I suppose I could knock two days off the detention", he finally gave in.

"Thank you", Emily smiled, pleased with herself.

"Thank you, sir", Dylan said.

Dylan and Richard got up and Richard shook hands with Hanlin again.

"Good to see you again, Richard"

"Always a pleasure", Richard responded.

"Drive safely"

The three walked out of the office then out of the school to Richard's car. Nobody had yet to say a word.

The silence was killing Dylan. Finally, when they stepped into the car Emily cleared her throat.

"Have you lost your mind?", Emily asked in a monotone.

"Emily-", Richard said but Emily interrupted.

"For heaven's sake, Richard, don't 'Emily' me. Someone had to say it! You told me not to yell at him when we got there so I didn't"

Oddly enough Dylan preferred to be yelled at rather than it being silent.

"I made a mistake", Dylan admitted.

"A mistake that could have completely ruined your future!", Emily continued.

"As if you care", Dylan muttered under his breath, not expecting anyone to hear.

To his dismay, Emily heard him.

"Of course I care! I'm your grandmother"

"Wow, that's the first time I've heard you say it out loud"

"Excuse me?"

At this point, Dylan had nothing else to lose.

"You heard me. Do you think I'm stupid? Do you really think I never noticed that you didn't accept me as family?"

"You have no idea what you're talking about"

Dylan scoffed.

The rest of the drive was silent and awkward.

"Thank you", Dylan said quietly when they reached the house.

"For what?", Emily asked.

"For trying so hard with the headmaster"

"It's my job", Emily simply stated then got out of the car. Richard then got out, leaving Dylan alone for a moment.

He couldn't believe that just an hour ago, he was taking his test, he wished he could go back in time and tell himself that it wasn't worth it to cheat and how he would regret it a minute later.

He stepped out of the car and walked into the large house. He didn't think it could get worse than being there for Friday Night Dinner but at that moment, he wished it was Friday Night Dinner so he at least wouldn't be alone.

The maid was by the door and offered to take his backpack but Dylan just walked past her.

He stood in the foyer, unsure of where to go.

"Yes, Lorelai, I picked him up", Emily's voice came from the kitchen.

Dylan followed the voice and stood in the kitchen, making eye contact with Emily.

"Oh, you want to talk to him?", Emily repeats, glancing up at Dylan.

Dylan shakes his head and mouths 'no', pleading to himself that for once his grandmother would cover for him.

"He's upstairs studying", Emily lied.

"Ok, goodbye", Emily hung up the phone.

"What did she say?", he asked.

"She said she'll come to pick you up after work"

Dylan nodded.

"Is there anywhere I can go and study?"

"Yes, go to Richard's study, Richard's in the living room right now"

"Ok, thank you"

* * *

 **Chilton, 1:00:**

The rest of the day had shortened periods and by lunchtime, almost everyone had heard about Dylan cheating.

Will walked to his normal table in the cafeteria, which Taylor was once again absent from.

"Is it true?", one of his friends asked as soon as Will put his books down.

"Is what true?", Will replied, confused.

"Did your brother really get caught cheating?"

"Max?", Will asked, still not understanding and not even considering the fact that they were referring to Dylan.

"No. Is it true that Dylan got caught cheating on his midterm?"

Will's eyes went wide.

"Where'd you hear that?"

"Everyone's talking about it"

"What happened?"

"I don't know, apparently he got suspended. I thought you knew, man"

"I haven't seen him since this morning"

Will couldn't believe what he was hearing and he hoped it wasn't true. If Dylan was really suspended, Will knew him well enough that he wasn't taking it too lightly.

"Maybe it's not the same Dylan", his other friend suggested, noticing how concerned Will looked.

"Yeah, this doesn't sound like Dylan", another friend assured him.

"Ah, shit", Will muttered to himself.

For Dylan's own sake, Will hoped that the rumors weren't true.

* * *

 **Gilmore Mansion, 5:00:**

Dylan looked outside the window of his grandfather's study; the sun had set and the snow was really coming down hard.

He began to pack up his things, expecting his mother at any minute. A moment later, Emily walked into the study.

"Your mother just called", she began.

Dylan could tell by the tone of her voice that she didn't sound too happy.

"Because of the storm, she can't come and pick you up and you'll have to spend the night"

"Can't I just call a cab?", he asked desperately.

"The roads are too icy"

Dylan looked out the window once again and sighed.

"Dinner will be ready in one hour", she informed him.

"Okay"

Emily walked out of the study, leaving a clearly unhappy Dylan.

"Richard, have Bernadette get the guest room ready", she said.

"Why?", he asked, looking up from the newspaper.

"Dylan is spending the night"

"You don't seem too happy"

"Neither does he"

"Can you blame the boy?", Richard muttered.

"What's that supposed to mean?", Emily challenged.

"You've barely spoken two words to him ever since we picked him up"

"What am I supposed to say? He got suspended for cheating on his midterm. We're not his parents, I don't know how to discipline him"

"Don't play that card. You know well enough you don't treat him the same as any of the other grandkids"

"What about you? How many times have you taken Will and Max golfing individually? I've never even seen you call their house and ask for Dylan."

"You've distanced him from us, it's your own doing"

"Richard, I'm not going to argue with you. It's what I've been saying all along, you're supposed to get married and have children of your own, that's the right way"

"Maybe that's your problem, Emily, you and I both know that boy is a fine young man. He has been nothing but polite ever since he was a child. You've been so set on how things should be done and how traditional is the only way, you can't realize that sometimes things find a way to work themselves out"

"So, he cheats on a test and you suddenly realize what a magnificent young man he is?", Emily questions, crossing her arms.

"No, I've always realized, I just haven't been able to do anything about it because you've distanced us from him"

"I stand by my beliefs", Emily challenged.

"Or maybe you just don't wanna admit you were wrong", Richard says, then walks out of the room, leaving a furious Emily.

* * *

 **6:00:**

Dylan had changed out of his school uniform into his gym clothes. Just as he was about to go down for dinner, his phone rang, sure enough, it was his mom. He let it go to voicemail. He had decided he didn't want to face them until he absolutely had to.

There was a knock at the door of the guest room he had resided in.

"Come in", he called.

The maid walked in.

"Dinner is being served", she told him.

"Thank you", he replied, giving her a smile to acknowledge her, something he was sure she wasn't used to. The gesture didn't go unnoticed, the tired old lady smiled back and held the door open for him.

He walked down to the dining room where Richard and Emily were already seated, sitting on opposite ends of the table.

He sat down in one of the middle chairs and could immediately sense the tension.

Emily was glaring at Richard who responded with taking out a newspaper at the dinner table, knowing it would bother Emily.

After what felt like an hour of awkward silence, which was actually five minutes, dinner was brought out and served.

"This tastes really good, Grandma", Dylan said with no emotion, in an effort to ease the tension.

"I didn't make it", Emily replied shortly.

"Yeah, I know but-", Dylan stopped himself, not wanting to come off as rude.

Instead, he turned around to the maid who was standing and watching them eat.

"This tastes amazing", he said to the woman who replied with a thankful smile.

"Richard, your dinner is going to get cold", Emily said.

Richard looked up from his newspaper.

"I like it cold"

"Don't be ridiculous"

"I'm not being ridiculous"

"Yes, you are"

"This conversation is ridiculous"

"I'm gonna go get some water", Dylan announced to no one in particular, feeling uncomfortable in the presence of his grandparents fighting.

"Bernadette will get it for you", Emily told him.

"No, it's fine, I can do it myself", he assured her, grateful for having an excuse to get out of that room.

When he got into the kitchen, he leaned on the fridge and sighed, wishing he was home right now.

He could hear the arguing from the kitchen as he poured himself a cup of water.

"Is there anything I can get you?", a voice from behind him asked, startling him.

"No, thank you", he replied.

She noticed the look on his face and felt bad for the boy.

"You know, I haven't been working for your grandparents for a very long time but from what I can tell, their intentions are always good"

Dylan scoffed.

"It's different for me", he said honestly.

"How so?"

"I wasn't exactly on the best terms with them to begin with so getting into trouble and having to spend the night with them doesn't really help my situation"

"I'm a grandmother myself, and if I were in Mrs. Gilmore's position, I would want my grandchild to at least tell me how he was feeling"

Dylan made an attempt to smile, he appreciated her trying to help but he didn't think his grandmother even wanted to have a conversation with him let alone sit down and listen to why he doesn't enjoy their presence.

They listened as the sound of arguing continued from the dining room.

The sound of Emily yelling, "Fine, you were right!", came and Dylan decided it was probably time to go back outside to make sure they didn't start throwing things.

He finally walked out of the kitchen and took his seat.

The awkward silence resumed.

"Dylan", Richard started, just as Dylan was about to take a bite of his food.

"Yes, Grandpa?"

"What do you want to be when you grow up?", Richard asked.

Dylan was confused, he looked from Richard to Emily who both looked interested in the answer. Throughout all the friday night dinners he had sat through and witnessed Richard ask this question to each of the kids, Dylan had never been asked.

"Excuse me?"

"What profession would you like to take up?"

"To be completely honest with you, I'm not sure yet", he answered politely.

"Oh", Emily commented.

"That's quite all right, you have a bright future ahead of you", Richard replied.

Dylan blushed slightly and gave his grandfather a smile.

"As long as you stay out of trouble and not cheat on any more tests", Emily added, almost sounding jokingly.

Dylan was taken aback; his grandparents had barely ever acknowledged him, let alone, ask him about his future.

Emily was taken aback as well; taken aback at being wrong. Spending the day with Dylan made her realize that Dylan truly was a good enough kid and probably the most respectful out of his siblings.

"I'm sorry about today", Dylan sighed, not able to get over what he did.

"Why? We've been called down there dozens of times to get Will out of trouble", Richard chuckled.

"Because, I embarrassed you in front of the headmaster, I got suspended so you had to come pick me up, and I disappointed you", Dylan mumbled.

"It's alright", Richard assured him.

"All is forgiven", Emily added, giving a slight smile to the boy.

Who would've thought it would take Dylan getting suspended for his grandparents to start noticing him?

* * *

 _ **Thanks for reading! Sorry this took so long to upload I was contemplating how Richard and Emily would react. Tell me what you think!**_


	12. Chapter 12

**Gilmore Mansion 12:00 pm, Wednesday:**

The next day turned out to be a snow day because the school's heating system stopped working, which would usually make Dylan ecstatic, but today was the day he had to face his parents. Given that he hadn't seen or spoken to them after the Headmaster called to inform them he had been caught cheating, he was relieved that they probably had time to cool off.

There was a knock at his door and Richard walked in.

"Your mother is here", Richard told him.

"Okay, I'm ready to go", he replied, swinging his backpack over his shoulder.

The two walked downstairs where Lorelai and Emily were talking.

Dylan couldn't look his mother in the eye, seeing her just made him feel worse about letting her down.

"Ready to go?", Lorelai asked.

Dylan nodded.

"Thanks for everything", Dylan said, turning to his grandparents.

"Don't mention it", Richard replied.

Emily smiled at him and gave him a quick hug.

Lorelai was surprised at the gesture, it wasn't too often her parents showed affection to Dylan.

"Dyl, go wait in the car, please", Lorelai said.

He did as he was told.

"I really appreciate you two going to pick him up, it was a really big help", Lorelai said to her parents when Dylan left.

"You're welcome", Emily replied.

"I don't know what got into him, he never cheats at anything", Lorelai explained.

"Lorelai, it's evident he regrets the situation. He's very respectful. Don't go too hard on him", Richard said.

Lorelai sighed.

"He's a great kid, he just puts a lot of stress on himself", Lorelai replied.

"Headmaster Charleston promised this wouldn't go on his permanent record", Emily informed her.

"That's good, at least. I should get going, the roads are starting to clear which means traffic's about to start. Thanks again"

"Anytime", Richard smiled.

Lorelai walked back to her jeep and found Dylan sitting in the front seat, looking like a nervous wreck.

She took her seat and started the car.

"Dylan", Lorelai sighed, wanting to get the conversation over with.

"I'm sorry, Mom", Dylan replied.

"I don't know what to say to you, kid", Lorelai told him honestly.

Dylan looked down at the floor.

"You're smarter than that, you should have trusted yourself"

"I know"

"Why'd you do it?", Lorelai asked.

Dylan didn't answer.

"Dylan-"

"I'm really tired, can we not talk about this right now?"

"Fine, we'll wait until we get home. Your father said he would be home when we got there"

"Great", Dylan muttered sarcastically.

* * *

 **Danes House, 12:45:**

Dylan and Lorelai walked into the house and found Luke waiting for them in the kitchen.

Luke had left the diner to be there when Dylan got home and made sure all of the kids were out of the house.

Luke gestured for Dylan to sit down at the table and Dylan reluctantly did so as Lorelai went and stood beside Luke.

He hated being in the position he was in at the moment. He rarely got into an exorbitant amount of trouble where his parents had to sit him down and talk to him, but when it did get to that point, he knew it was bad.

"When Headmaster Charleston called to inform me that my son had been caught cheating on his midterm, I thought to myself there must be some mistake. Will's smart enough to know that the only person you hurt when you cheat is yourself. So, you can imagine how surprised I was when he told me he was referring to my son, Dylan", Luke started.

Dylan already knew he was in for a long lecture.

"Dad, I-"

"No. You're going to listen to me talk, then you can explain", Luke cut him off.

Lorelai stood back and let Luke lecture Dylan, she always felt bad. She knew Luke did too but he had more experience in that area considering he raised Jess for two years; Lorelai rarely had to lecture Rory.

"I expect more from you, Dylan, much more. You know better than that. Am I right?"

Dylan nodded.

"You jeopardized your entire future!", Luke exclaimed.

Dylan was getting fed up with hearing the same thing; he was over it. He was frustrated because obviously he was aware at what he had done and he was sorry, it didn't help anyone for everyone to keep reminding him.

"You have put way too much time and effort into your schoolwork to just throw it away on one test!", Luke yelled, hoping he was getting through to the kid.

Dylan couldn't hold himself back from subtly rolling his eyes; Lorelai and Luke didn't miss it.

"No, you don't get to do that", Luke asserted.

"This isn't the time for you to get an attitude, Dylan", Lorelai added.

He knew his parents were right, he was just tired of hearing the same thing.

"Sorry", he mumbled.

"I just want to know, why would a kid as bright as you, risk it like that?", Lorelai asked.

"They could've expelled you, other than the fact you would've gotten a zero averaged into your transcript", Luke added.

"I don't know", Dylan muttered, shrugging.

This was a lie. Dylan knew what was going through his head when he decided to look at the other kid's paper, he was just embarrassed to tell his parents.

"You don't know?", Luke repeated.

"You were ready for that test, you didn't need to cheat", Lorelai said.

"Cheating is unacceptable, Dylan, we better not get another phone call", Luke warned.

"How many times do I have to say it? I'm sorry!", he exclaimed.

"Sorry for being caught? Or sorry for doing it? Because right now, you don't even know why you did it or what you would've done if they would've kicked you out of the school!", Luke countered.

"I'm sorry for disappointing you!", Dylan boomed.

Luke and Lorelai stood back, surprised at his sudden burst of emotion.

He blushed, then looked down at the floor, feeling like a five year old.

Lorelai felt sorry for her son, she knew what it felt like to disappoint a parent.

"Dylan, I'm disappointed in what you did but I would never be disappointed in you as a son", Luke told him.

"I'm really sorry, it won't happen again", Dylan mumbled, keeping his eyes on the ground.

"We know", Lorelai assured him.

"I was worried that if I got a bad grade, you guys would be disappointed in me", he admitted.

"We would never be disappointed in a bad grade knowing that you tried your best", Lorelai said, walking over and smoothing his hair out.

"You messed up, but it's not the end of the world, alright?", Luke spoke.

He nodded.

"What's my punishment?", he asked, wanting to get it over with.

Lorelai and Luke glanced at each other, neither wanting to be the one to say it

"Grounded for two weeks", Lorelai started.

"No phone, no laptop, no tv", Luke continued.

"Your free time will be spent studying for the rest of your midterms to be sure you feel confident enough on your next tests"

"And after midterm week, your free time will be spent in the diner", Luke told him.

"And I'll have some chores at the inn for you", Lorelai concluded.

He took a moment to take it all in; he had never been punished this severely before.

"Okay", he accepted.

"Phone, please", Lorelai instructed.

Dylan reached into his pocket and held out his cell phone.

"We'll be up to get your laptop in a few minutes. You can head upstairs and change your clothes, take a shower, and all that", Luke told him.

"Yeah, you stink", Lorelai teased, trying to lighten up the situation. Dylan just nodded and headed upstairs.

"Do you think we went too hard on him?", Lorelai asked when Dylan was out of earshot.

"No, he needs to realize that cheating of any kind is not tolerated in this house", Luke replied.

"I feel awul. Did you see the look on his face?"

"He'll get over it", Luke assured her, pulling her into his arms.

"But would we have been as harsh if it were Zoe or Will?", Lorelai wondered out loud.

"What do you mean?"

"I don't know, sometimes I feel like we're harder on Dylan than we are on the other kids. Tell me I'm wrong"

Luke thought for a moment.

"You're not wrong", he finally admitted.

"He already puts enough stress on himself as it is. Is this really fair on our parts?"

"Lorelai, we expect more from Dylan. That's why we're harder on him. I'm beyond proud of all of our kids, but it's pretty clear Dylan has a lot going for him, and he's self-motivated, I just don't wanna see him lose that", Luke explained.

"You're right", Lorelai sighed.

Luke gave her a peck on the cheek.

"As always", Luke smirked.

"Alright, diner man, don't get a big head", she teased.

Luke couldn't help but chuckle.

"How long's it been since you've called me that?", Luke asked with a smile.

"About three kids ago", she answered, kissing him.

Lorelai decided she should go talk to Dylan to make sure he wasn't going too hard on himself.

She walked upstairs to his room and knocked.

"Come in", he called.

Lorelai walked into the room as Dylan began to take off his shirt to get ready for his shower.

"Hey, hon, you got a sec?", Lorelai asked.

When Lorelai sat down on his bed and gestured for him to sit aside her he knew it was about to take much longer than 'a second' so he put his shirt back on and sat down next to his mother.

"My laptop's on the table, by the way", he told her.

Lorelai smiled at his honesty.

"I wanted to make sure you were okay"

"I'm fine, Mom. I made a mistake and I should face the consequences", he replied, not wanting his mother to feel bad for punishing him.

"You're such a great kid, you know that?", she smiled, putting her hand on his shoulder.

He shrugged, not feeling like too good of a kid at the moment.

"I don't ever want you to think that you're not good enough, okay? Your dad and I will always be proud of you no matter how many homeruns you hit, whatever grades you get, and whatever you wanna do with your life"

He nodded; his mom always knew how to make him feel better.

"Sorry I gave such an attitude today in the car", he said quietly.

Lorelai marveled at how considerate Dylan was. It was evident that underneath his 'jock appearance' he was a sensitive kid and that's what Lorelai thought set him apart from the rest of the kids.

"It's okay, I know you were tired"

He nodded in agreement at that; tired was an understatement. He hadn't been able to get much sleep, he was extremely worried about how his parents would react when they saw him.

"Listen to me, I don't ever want you to be embarrassed to tell me how you're feeling, alright? I'm your mom and part of the deal comes with unconditional love", she smiled, pulling him into a hug.

"Thanks, Mom"

"You really need a shower", she smirked.

"These are my gym clothes", he replied, getting up from the bed.

"I'll be downstairs", she said, taking the laptop that was on his table, then walking out of the room.

* * *

 **Diner 1:45:**

Luke had gone back to the diner after talking to Dylan. He walked into the packed diner and found Will running orders.

"Dad!", Will called as soon as Luke walked in, causing all of the customers to look at him.

Will left his order pad on a random table and quickly approached Luke.

"What is it, Will?", Luke asked.

"Did you talk to Dylan?", Will asked anxiously.

"Yeah, I did"

He walked to the counter and Will followed.

"What happened?"

"Don't worry about it, it's not your business"

Will rolled his eyes.

"How long is he suspended for?"

"He's going back tomorrow"

"Who would've thought Dylan actually had it in him?", Will joked, resulting in a glare from Luke.

"Get back to work, Will", Luke told him, with his 'no nonsense' tone, proving he wasn't in the mood.

Will got the hint and did as he was told.

Luke walked into the kitchen to look for Max; he was supposed to be doing an hour of dishes that day.

Luke found Max sitting on the countertop, looking at Cesar doing the dishes.

"Cesar, I'm trying to keep the kid out of trouble. What good is it doing if you're doing his work for him?", Luke said.

"Luke, it's not my fault. He was getting bubbles everywhere and when I told him he was doing it wrong he asked me to show him", Cesar defended.

Luke gave Max an unimpressed look and Max just smirked in response.

"He knows how to do the dishes, he tricked you"

Cesar looked back at the little boy who looked content with himself.

Luke walked over to Max and helped him down the countertop.

"Cesar, just get back to the stove, we've got dozens of orders", Luke instructed.

Max giggled as Cesar stormed over to the stove.

"Yeah, yeah, real funny, Max" Luke rolled his eyes.

"I didn't wanna mess up", he answered innocently.

Luke couldn't help but smile and ruffle up Max's hair.

"Can I go outside and play in the snow?", Max asked hopefully.

"It's freezing outside, buddy, maybe later"

Max pouted.

"Please", he begged.

Luke shook his head.

"I have to get back out to help Will, come on, I'll have Cesar make you a burger", Luke offered.

"Fine"

Luke and Max walked out of the kitchen and saw Will at the counter talking to a girl.

"You're covering the counter?", Luke asked, looking back from the girl to Will.

"Yep", he replied, grabbing the coffee pot and pouring a cup for her.

"Alright, I'll cover the tables"

Will turned back to her.

"So, how old are you?", she asked.

"Fifteen"

"Really? I'm fifteen too. How come I've never seen you around school?"

"I go to Chilton"

"Oh, the school for the snobby and the snobbier trust fund brats", she smirked.

"That would be the one", he joked, grabbing a rag and wiping down the counter in front of her.

Max walked behind the counter and stared at the girl.

"That's not Taylor", Max said, pointing an accusatory finger at the girl.

"Shut up, Max", Will replied.

"No, Taylor's across the street", the girl laughed, thinking Max was referring to Taylor Doose.

Max began to protest but Will pulled him aside, telling the girl he would be right back.

"Do me a favor and try to make words not come out of your mouth", Will whispered, not wanting his dad or the girl to hear him.

Max crossed his arms.

"I thought when you have a girlfriend you don't talk to other girls", Max questioned.

"That's complete bull, you're allowed to talk to other girls you just can't make out with them", Will explained as if Max should know that already.

"Now that I think of it, you haven't hung out with Taylor in almost a week. Did she dump you?", Max smirks.

"If you don't shut up, I'll hit you", Will threatened.

"You wouldn't in front of Dad", Max challenged.

"Try me. Seriously, don't say anything to that girl, I just wanna be friends with her."

"What's in it for me?"

"Not getting beat up"

"Deal", Max agreed quickly.

Will walked back to the counter.

He was about to ask the girl what her name was but a customer asked him for a refill. He gave his best glare to the lady as he poured her the coffee.

"So, my name's on my apron, but I still don't know yours", he said smoothly.

"I'm Courtney", she smirked flirtatiously.

"Will", he stated, pointing to his name tag.

It was evident to him that this girl liked him; she had come into the diner for the past few days only ordering a drink and giving him looks as he walked by. Though he wouldn't admit it to himself, he enjoyed the attention, especially because Taylor hadn't talked to him since the football game and he didn't have his cell phone to text her.

"You know, Will, for a trust fund brat, you're pretty cute", she teased.

"I don't have a trust fund but I'll agree with you on the second part", he smirked.

She laughed.

"I'll see you around", she told him, getting up.

"Well, I'm grounded indefinitely so I'll be here everyday", he replied.

"Well, then I'll be here tomorrow"

She waved on her way out and Will watched her leave.

"I don't call any of my friends 'cute'", Max commented when she exited the diner.

* * *

 _ **Thanks for reading! I was going to add more to this chapter but I didn't want there to be too much going on. Next chapter will have some insight into Zoe and you'll start to get a better feel for Zoe's character, why she is the way she is, and her relationship with her family members. Let me know what you thought of how Luke and Lorelai handled Dylan's situation! Any feedback motivates me to write, I love reading your reviews! :)**_


	13. Chapter 13

**Thursday, Chilton, 12:00:**

Zoe made her way through the halls of Chilton, on her way to the cafeteria for her free period.

"Tuck your shirt in, young lady", a dean told her as she walked by.

She tucked it under her vest until she walked far enough away from him then she pulled it back out.

She spotted her usual seat next to her boyfriend and approached it.

"Hey", she greeted with a smile.

"Hey, Zo", Nick replied, not looking up from his phone.

"Zo, your hair looks so good today", Zoe's friend, Madison, complimented.

"Doesn't it?", Zoe agreed, complimenting herself.

She pulled out her lunch that her dad had prepared for her and looked around the table at all of her friends, who had all bought lunch. She secretly hated the fact that she was the only one out of her friends who brought her own lunch to school, but she covered it up by always making a face and commenting that cafeteria food was gross.

The entire table was talking about what they were doing over Christmas break, meaning Zoe had nothing to contribute to the conversation.

"My parents are making me go up to Aspen with them", Josh, Nick's best friend, complained.

"That sucks. I'm gonna be living it up in Boca", Nick smirked.

Most of Zoe's friends were either going to the Bahamas, Florida, or anywhere tropical, while she was staying at home.

"What about you, Zoe?", Nate, another one of Zoe's friends, asked.

"Ugh, I have family visiting so I can't go anywhere", Zoe pouted, only half lying. She knew for a fact her cousin, Jess, was visiting but it wasn't like her family would've gone on vacation if he wasn't coming; both Lorelai and Luke had to work.

They continued to talk about their vacation plans while Zoe listened.

"I can't wait for Saturday", she said to Nick.

He finally looked up from his phone and gave her a smile.

"Me either", he replied.

"What time should I come over?", she asked.

"Around five"

Zoe was very excited. Nick had told her he had something special planned for them. She was finally going to spend quality time with her boyfriend and the best part was, he was the one who made the plans. Usually she was the one coordinating everything and inviting him over.

* * *

 **3:00 PM**

Emily's car pulled up to Chilton and Zoe stepped in.

"Hi, Grandma", she greeted.

"Hello, Zoe", Emily smiled.

Earlier in the day, Zoe had texted her mother saying that she would be getting home late and texted her grandmother asking if she could take her shopping. Emily was elated.

"Thanks for picking me up"

"Anytime. I was delighted when I got your text message; it's been a while since we've had some time to ourselves"

"I know! I feel like we haven't been shopping in so long. I have something special this Saturday and I thought to myself, who better to turn to for fashion advice than Grandma?", Zoe complimented, using her charm to her advantage.

"We're going to pick out something marvelous for you to wear"

"Perfect"

"You know, your mother, Rory, and I would have shopping days. Lorelai always insisted on tagging along"

Zoe just smiled politely. She had been expecting her grandmother to bring up Rory; it happened every time.

* * *

 **Danes House 6:00 pm:**

Emily dropped Zoe off at home after the shopping trip. They had gone to Bloomingdales and Emily bought her all of the outfits she had picked out with her mother along with some outfits Emily picked out that Zoe would never be caught dead in; they reminded Emily of the outfits she and Rory would buy together so Zoe pretended to like them.

She used her key to get in because thankfully, her parents were still at work. She fiddled with the lock and the door finally swung open with Dylan standing on the other side, startling Zoe.

"Damn it, Dylan, you gave me a heart attack", Zoe exclaimed, shoving past him.

"Sorry", he mumbled.

"Aren't you supposed to be at the diner?"

"I'm supposed to be studying"

"So, why aren't you?"

"A better question would be, where'd you get all of the shopping bags?", he smirked.

"None of your business"

He scoffed.

"What'd you do, buy out all of Bloomingdales? How'd you pay for all of this?", he said, examining all of the shopping bags.

"Don't tell Mom and Dad but Grandma took me shopping", she admitted, knowing she could trust Dylan.

"Zo, they're gonna kill you. You know Mom has a big thing against asking Grandma and Grandpa for money"

"They're not gonna find out"

As if on cue, the sound of the lock fiddling came and Zoe and Dylan froze.

Lorelai walked in a moment later alongside Max.

She stopped in her tracks when she saw all of the shopping bags.

"Please tell me you didn't rob a bank", she stated.

Zoe shot Dylan a look asking for help but Dylan was unsure of what he could do.

"How was your day, Mom?", Dylan asked.

"Zoe, where did all of these come from?", Lorelai asked, ignoring Dylan's attempt to distract her.

"Why do you assume they're all mine?"

Lorelai reached into one of the bags and pulled out a pair of distressed super skinny jeans.

"Either these are yours or Dylan's going back in time to the 1970s to replace Joe Strummer as lead singer of The Clash"

"Ooh, Zoe's in trouble", Max sang.

"Shut up", Zoe glared.

"Watch your mouth", Lorelai warned.

"Mom, this really isn't that big of a deal", Zoe assured her.

"I don't even know what _this_ is; you haven't answered my question"

"Which question?", she played dumb.

Lorelai gave her an unimpressed look then motioned to the bags.

"Where did all of these shopping bags come from?"

"Grandma took me shopping", she finally answered, trying to play it off like it wasn't a big deal.

Lorelai looked at her in shock.

Dylan and Max exchanged a look then both began to walk away from the girls.

"Excuse me?", Lorelai asked.

"What?"

"You know what"

"No, I don't know", she countered.

"Zoe, for the love of God, tell me you didn't call your grandmother and have her take you shopping just so she would pay for all of this!"

"Fine, I didn't call my grandmother and have her take me shopping just so she would pay for all of this", she replied with a snarky tone, beginning to gather her bags.

"That doesn't sound too convincing"

"What's the big deal, Mom? All grandparents buy things for their grandkids"

"Do all grandparents pay four grandkids' tens of thousands of dollars worth of tuition?"

"Grandma likes shopping for me"

"I can't believe you, this is ridiculous. It's all going back tomorrow"

"You can't do that!"

"I just did, I'm your mother"

"Mom, Nick and I have a date this Saturday and I have nothing to wear!"

"Keep talking and let's see if you get to go on Saturday", Lorelai warned.

"You're overreacting! This is so not fair!"

"You wanna know what's not fair, Zoe? The fact that you know the rules in this house and you blatantly disregard them, the fact that you took advantage of your grandmother, and the fact that your father and I work very hard so you would never have to go to someone else to buy you something!"

"That's not my fault!"

"No, nothing's ever your fault" Lorelai rolled her eyes, rummaging through the bags looking for the receipt.

"You stuck me in a school with kids who have as many houses as there are shopping bags in this room! My friends wear all of these clothes, why shouldn't I get to? I'm so tired of always being the odd one out! I live in freaking Stars Hollow, that's odd enough, I don't need to be dressing like an outsider too!"

"This is not the time to pull that card! You know that going to your grandparents for money shouldn't even cross your mind!"

"You and Dad did it for tuition money!"

"That is something you should be forever grateful for"

"This really isn't that big of a deal! You wouldn't buy anything for me so Grandma did"

"If I felt like you needed a shirt that cost as much as the watch on my wrist, I would have bought it for you"

"I'm not returning any of this, Grandma said it was a gift", Zoe decided, grabbing all of her bags.

"You went against everything your father and I stand for. Just wait until he hears about this"

"I'm not returning the clothes", she repeats.

"Fine, you're not going on Saturday", Lorelai tells her, crossing her arms.

"You can't do that"

"I just did"

"That's not fair!", Zoe yelled, feeling tears forming in her eyes.

"Zoe, you and I both know you get away with a lot in this house; this is something I'm not letting you get away with."

"I hate you!", she cried, storming upstairs, taking all of the bags with her.

"Zoe! Get back down here!", Lorelai called.

Zoe was already walking into her room, furiously slamming the door behind her.

She dropped all of the shopping bags on the floor and fell back into her bed. She was furious. The entire situation was unfair.

She was too busy crying dramatically into her pillow to notice that Dylan had walked in.

"Zo, come on, stop crying", Dylan said softly, sitting down next to her.

"Go away", she grumbled back.

"What did you think was going to happen? There's no way you could've hid all of this from them, the bags are taking up half of your room", Dylan chuckled, trying to cheer her up.

Zoe sat up and glared at him.

"Get out of my room"

"You're just making things worse for yourself"

"No, I'm not. Dad can't stand to see me cry"

"This is different and you know it. There's no way you're getting away with using Grandma for money. The best thing you can do right now is apologize and return the clothes so you'd at least be able to go on Saturday; you have tons of clothes, you'll find something to wear"

"Nobody in this house gets it! I don't care about having nothing to wear on Saturday! I finally have acceptable clothes to wear when i go out with my friends! These are the clothes all of my friends wear! I don't get why I always have to be different!"

"What are you talking about? Everyone at school loves you; you have so many friends"

"I'm talking about the fact that when I'm out in public, everyone's comparing me to my friends! When I'm home, everyone's comparing me to Rory! It's not fair!"

"Well, can I tell you something?", Dylan asked.

"No, but you're going to anyway", Zoe sighed.

"Rory's not my little sister; you are. I'm not comparing you to her; I only have one little sister", he smiled.

She couldn't help but smile at her brother's corniness.

"I wish I only had one brother", she joked.

"Who would you pick?"

"Max, because he stays out of my way", she teases.

Dylan shoves her playfully then gets up.

"I'm sort of on lockdown so I should get back to my room", he says.

"I'll probably be in maximum security when Dad comes home"

"Good luck", he offered before walking out of the room.

Zoe let out a deep breath to calm herself down; she was still angry but somehow her older brother always made her feel better even if it was just temporary.

* * *

 ** _Sorry i hadn't updated in a while, I didn't know where I wanted this chapter to go. Let me know what you thought! I hope you enjoyed:)_**


	14. Chapter 14

**Thursday, Diner 8:00 pm:**

"Okay, Lorelai, calm down", Luke said over the phone.

"Ooh, never tell a girl to calm down", Will walked by, smirking, with the tub of dirty dishes.

"I will not calm down! I can't believe she would do this", Lorelai yelled into the phone.

"I'll be home soon, I promise", Luke replied.

"Alright", she accepted.

"I love you"

"Love you too"

Luke hung up the phone and sighed.

"So this is what it's like not being the topic of an exasperated phone call", Will joked.

"It sucks being on the receiving end", Luke muttered.

"What happened?"

"Mom and Zoe got into a fight, you know, the usual"

"What about?"

"I can't really understand Lorelai when she's angry but from the tone of her voice I could tell it was bad"

"So, I'm guessing we're gonna stay here a little longer to let them cool off", Will smirked knowingly.

Luke chuckled and ruffled up Will's hair. Will responded with a glare, removing his baseball cap to smooth his hair out.

"I don't know, Mom sounded really upset, it sounded bad", Luke said, handing Will a rag.

"Then that means they're both really pissed at each other so, I don't know about you, but I really don't wanna be in that house"

"Fine, we'll stay a little longer", Luke gave in.

"Can we close early? There aren't any customers anyway"

Luke thought about it. He didn't usually like to close early but he could tell Will was tired.

"Okay", Luke accepted.

Will grinned and went over to change the sign from 'open' to 'closed'.

"You're helping me close up", Luke told him just as Will was about to rest his head on the counter.

Will rolled his eyes but began to help Luke put the chairs on the tables.

"I don't get why we put the chairs on the tables every night if we're just going to have to put them back the next morning", he complained.

"It makes it easier for me to mop"

"You mean for _me_ to mop", Will corrected.

"Hey, that's a good idea, this floor could use a good mopping", Luke teased.

Will threw a rag at Luke in response, which Luke easily caught.

"On that note, let's call it a night", Luke said, stacking the last chair on a table.

"Finally"

Will hopped onto the counter and sighed.

Luke looked at him and could tell his mind was preoccupied.

"What are you thinking about?"

He shrugged.

"Come on, kid, you can tell me"

"Just tired", he lied.

"Will, the last time I saw you think that hard was at your championship game last year when the kid you struck out called you a cheater and you were trying to decide if you were gonna tackle him first or punch him first", Luke chuckled.

He realized his dad was right, he could trust him.

"Just thinking about Tay", he admitted.

"Are you two still together?"

"Dad, I don't even know. I haven't seen her in school but that's probably because we're in different classes so we take different tests and i don't have my phone to see if she texted me. She's definitely mad at me because of last friday because otherwise she would have come to see me"

Luke was shocked at how quickly Will had opened up.

"Will-"

"I didn't tell you all of that so you would feel bad for me. I messed up, I shouldn't have caused a scene that night, and I need to apologize"

Luke had never seen Will so down; he was really good at hiding his emotions until someone asked him.

"Kid, I believe in you. If you're mature enough to own up to your mistake, she'll forgive you"

"Can I have my phone back for one day? I just need to text her"

"I'll think about it"

"Okay, because at this point I don't know what to do"

"Let me tell you, any girl would be lucky to have you", Luke told him truthfully.

"Thanks, _mom_ ", he smirked.

Luke rolled his eyes but was happy to see that Will was still able to joke around and be himself meaning he could handle his emotions. Luke ruffled Will's hair up, resulting in an immediate glare from Will.

"Speaking of, your mother's gonna kill us if we don't get home soon"

"Okay"

* * *

 **Danes House:**

Luke and Will walked into the house to find Lorelai sitting silently in the living room with a timid face; never a good sign.

"Hey, what's going on?", Luke said.

"Luke, I am so angry", she started.

"Will, go up to your room", he told his son before Lorelai could go on.

"But we just got-"

"Will, I'm not going to ask you, your father said to go upstairs", Lorelai ordered tiredly.

Will knew that when his mother was being this stern, it was best not to push her.

"Fine", Will mumbled, dragging himself upstairs.

"Tell me what happened", he said when Will was halfway up the stairs.

"Guess where Zoe went after school?", she boomed.

"Where?"

"The mall"

"The mall?"

"Yep, the mall!"

"Am I missing something?"

"She went to the mall with my mom! Without telling us!"

"Why wouldn't she tell us?"

"Because it would ruin her plan. Her plan was to get my mom to take her to the mall and buy her whatever she wanted. I came home a little early from the Inn today and I walked in on her with about a dozen shopping bags!", she exclaimed, beginning to pace around.

Luke was shocked; he would never expect Zoe to go behind their backs like that, especially not to manipulate her grandmother for new clothes.

"I can't believe she would do that!", he spoke.

"In fact, I wouldn't expect anything else from Zoe. She threw a fit when I wouldn't buy her some shirt so she called up her grandmother who doesn't have a problem with buying her ten of them"

Luke wasn't just shocked anymore; he was mad and he rarely gets mad at Zoe.

He let himself take a deep breath to calm himself down.

"We have to let her explain herself before we do anything", he stated.

"There's not an excuse in this world that would make this okay", she fumed.

Luke could tell Lorelai was furious, which would only turn into a screaming match between her and Zoe when they went upstairs to talk to her.

"How about I go upstairs and let her explain herself before we go up together? She won't feel like she's being double-teamed", he suggested.

Lorelai looked hesitant but she finally nodded in acceptance.

"Luke, do not let her take advantage of you. She's going to give you some sob story, knowing that you'll feel bad for her, then talk her way out of a punishment"

"But, we also have to remember she's a teenager, Lorelai"

"Rory would never even think of doing this when she was a teenager. Neither would Dylan or Will, everyone in this house knows that this isn't okay"

It was evident Lorelai was stressed out. Luke pulled her into a hug and let her lean on him.

"We'll fix this. It's okay."

"No, Luke, it's not. I don't want my mother thinking I can't even put clothing on my children's backs, it was bad enough going to them for tuition money."

He kissed her on the forehead.

"I'll come get you when I'm done talking to her"

"Alright"

Luke went upstairs and walked into Zoe's room without knocking, something he doesn't usually do.

Zoe was on her phone then looked up at surprise at her father.

"Put your phone down, please", Luke said sternly.

Zoe hesitantly put it down as Luke sat down beside her on the bed.

"Mom's really mad at you."

"I know."

"And I'm really disappointed in you."

She rolled her eyes.

"Zoe, you know you messed up. You had no reason to go asking Grandma to buy you clothes. Please tell me you have some sort of reasoning to why you did it."

"Daddy", she groaned.

"No, don't 'Daddy' me. You're not five years old anymore, you can't get away with everything by pouting. I'm giving you a chance to explain yourself."

"Mom wouldn't buy me the clothes I needed, Grandma always wants to hang out; I figured I'd kill two birds with one stone", she shrugged, trying to play it off.

"Do you really think I'm buying that?"

"Dad, it's not a big deal"

Luke got up in frustration, he could feel his temper rising again.

"Zoe, it's a big deal to your mother and it's a big deal to me. We don't do that in this house and you know that.", Luke exasperated, his voice rising.

"Why is it such a big deal?"

"Because, your mother and i work hard everyday so you and your brothers would never have to ask anyone for money. I like to think we're doing a damn good job of it too!"

Zoe was getting mad. Her parents couldn't see where she was coming from.

"Clearly you're not", she muttered.

"Excuse me? What did you say, young lady?"

Luke was on the verge of yelling now and Zoe was surprised. She was never in trouble like this before but she couldn't back down now.

"I said that if you were doing such a good job of providing for us, maybe I wouldn't have to go to Grandma to buy the clothes that all of my friends wear!"

"I'm going to pretend you didn't say that because your mother and i raised you better than that. Be grateful you have a roof over your head and food on the table!"

"Why are you yelling at me?", Zoe yelled.

Luke took a moment to calm himself down. He knew from past experience, going all the way back to Jess, nothing gets solved with yelling.

"The point is, what you did wasn't okay."

"It's not-"

"You may not think it's a big deal, but we do", Luke cut her off.

"This is so not-"

"Life's not fair, get used to it", he cut her off again.

"What, are you gonna make me return the clothes?"

"Your mother and I are going to discuss your punishment but count on the fact that all of this is going back"

"My punishment? Don't you think being an outcast is punishment enough?"

Luke rolled his eyes.

"Zoe, your friends are like your clones. I don't think anyone considers you an outcast"

She crossed her arms and glared at Luke.

"I thought you, of all people, would be on my side", she mumbled, tears forming in her eyes.

Luke wanted to hug his little girl and tell her that it was okay and they could just forget it happened but he knew that wouldn't be helping her.

"Zo, it's about time you faced consequences for your actions."

She didn't say anything; she wiped her eyes then rolled them, turning away from Luke.

"I'm gonna go get Mom. I'll be back in a second."

It didn't take long for Luke to get Lorelai, she was waiting anxiously a few feet away from the door. Lorelai had calmed herself down a little.

"Let's get this over with", Luke said to her, not wanting to punish Zoe.

"You can do it. Just pretend she's Will coming home with another referral from the principal", she attempted to make Luke feel better. She knew he hated speaking sternly with Zoe, let alone punishing her.

"What are we doing? Grounding her?", Luke asked.

"She has to return the clothes and apologize to my mother, grounded for two weeks, no phone, and-"

"There's more?", Luke dreaded, shifting uncomfortably.

"I was thinking about it, Luke, and I want you to consider this and not say 'no' right away"

"What?"

"I think we have to give her some responsibility."

"Responsibility? We're talking about Zoe."

"I think she should work at the diner while she's grounded so she could learn the value of a dollar."

"Absolutely not."

"Luke, come on, give it a chance"

"Lorelai, I know she messed up and I agree with the fact that she should be punished but I don't want my little girl working for me"

"Max is eight years old and ever since you started having him do a few chores in the diner he has been staying out of trouble"

"Zoe would hate it. I would hate it. She'd hate me."

"No one likes to work, Luke. Dylan and Will do it without complaining, she can do it too. She'll have to deal. And she could never hate you, she knows we love her and despite how she's feeling right now, she loves us too"

"Can I think about it?"

"Alright. Deep down you know I'm right."

"Let's get in there before she sneaks out of the window or something."

They walked into Zoe's room and found her on her bed with her best glare staring back at them, with her arms crossed.

"Zoe, I trust you've had some time to think about what you did", Lorelai started.

"Just tell me my punishment.", she replied.

Lorelai looked at Luke and Luke nodded in confirmation.

"First of all this is all going back", Lorelai started.

Zoe's face remained neutral, her eyes just narrowed a bit.

"You're going to call your grandmother and apologize for taking advantage of her", Luke continued.

Zoe rolled her eyes at that one.

"You're going to be grounded for two weeks without your phone. This means you won't be leaving the house for two weeks unless it's somewhere that's pre-approved by your father and I", Lorelai went on.

She sat up in alarm.

"But, I'm supposed to be going to Nick's on Saturday!"

"Not anymore, you're not", Luke replied.

"You can't do this to me! You're ruining my life!"

"I'm sorry you feel that way"

"If this was Rory, she would be allowed to go on Saturday! This is so not fair!", Zoe cried.

Luke was surprised that Zoe was throwing such a fit. Even Max handled his punishments better than her. He knew she would be upset but he never thought she would be throwing a hissy fit. It hit him that because he had been letting her get away with so much, she couldn't handle a dose of reality.

"Zoe, you need to calm down", Luke told her.

"Don't play the 'Rory card' again, Zo. Dad and I don't like to punish you, in fact, you get away with a lot in this house so, ask Will, it could be a lot worse"

Zoe didn't say anything, she just wanted this night to be over already.

"Is that it?", she grumbled.

Lorelai looked at Luke.

"For now, that's it. The rest is undecided"

"There's more? You guys are overreacting! It's not like I robbed a bank!"

"Whining about it really isn't helping your case", Luke replied.

"Your punishment starts tonight, hand over the phone, please.", Lorelai said.

Zoe reluctantly handed over her phone.

"It's been a long night and you have school tomorrow. Consider this your curfew. Good night.", Luke decided, before leaving the room.

"Thanks a lot, Dad", she said sarcastically as they walked out of the room.

* * *

 _ **Hey! Sorry it took so long to update, i had writers block, but your reviews really motivated me! I rewrote this chapter like four times with different ways of Luke handling it. Let me know if you thought it was realistic! What did you guys think of how Luke and Lorelai handled the situation? Do you think Zoe should have to work in the diner? Thanks! Hope you enjoyed :)**_


	15. Chapter 15

**Friday, Chilton 12:00**

"Party tonight, my place", Will's friend told him, as they were walking to free.

"That's a funny joke. I don't think I'm gonna be allowed to go to a party for a while.", Will replied, readjusting his backwards baseball cap.

"Why not? It's been a week since last Friday. Didn't your parents say you were only grounded for a week?"

Will mentally ran the days of the week through his head and realized his friend was right. He hadn't even realized that his punishment was up with everything that had been going on this week. Everyone in the household would agree that it had been a long, chaotic, week.

"Yeah but a lot's been going on this week. My parents are pissed at my sister so everyone's sort of on watch."

"Sucks, man. What if you-"

"Taylor!", Will called, cutting his friend off. For the first time in a week, he had spotted his girlfriend in school. He ran to catch up to her.

Taylor turned around and saw Will running towards her, she wanted to keep walking, but she realized she would have to face him eventually.

"Taylor, I've been looking for you all week. What gives?"

"Will...", she started, her voice drifting off.

"Why have you been avoiding me? I get that you'd be mad about last Friday but you can't just avoid me altogether"

"I texted you.", she stated.

"You know my parents. Did you really think I'd have my phone after what happened at that game?"

It was true. Taylor knew Will wouldn't have his phone which is the exact reason why she texted him.

"Tay, I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry about everything. You have a right to be upset with me."

"Will, I really don't wanna talk about this right now."

"When do you wanna talk about it?"

"I don't know."

"Taylor, we have to talk about it eventually. It's been a week."

"I have a lot of stuff going on right now that you don't know about. I really don't have time to focus on anything else."

"I'm your boyfriend. If you have something to focus on, we'll focus on it together. Come over tonight, we can talk about whatever you need to talk about"

"I can't."

"Why not?"

"I just can't. Stars Hollow's too far"

Will was confused. It had never been a problem before. Just looking at her he could tell something was off. She looked stressed; which was unusual because Taylor was pretty easy-going.

"Then, I'll come over. As of tonight, I'm not grounded anymore. I still have detention but I can just come over afterwards."

"I don't think-"

"Tay, I care about you. I don't know what's been going on in your life for the past week because of the mistake I made Friday night. I'm sorry about that. It's my mistake, please let me at least fix it."

She finally nodded.

"Don't you have free right now?", Will asked, wondering why she was walking the other way.

"I'm going to the library."

"Do you want me to come with you?"

"Not really.", she replied honestly. She wasn't being obnoxious, she was just being truthful and Will knew that.

"Okay, I'll see you tonight?", he confirmed with a slight smile.

"Tonight.", she nodded.

He watched her walk away then pumped his fist up into the air. Finally, something good was happening. A teacher walked by and eyed him curiously, he smiled his signature smile in return.

"Remove the hat, young man.", the teacher told him.

"Yes, sir.", he replied, removing the cap. He was in too good of a mood to respond with a snarky comment.

When the teacher walked away, he put it back on his head and walked to the cafeteria.

* * *

 **Chilton, 3:45**

"Detention sucks", Dylan muttered to Will as they walked out of the classroom together.

"You don't know the half of it", Will chuckled.

Dylan didn't usually get detention but Will was used to it. Ever since Dylan had been caught cheating, the boys have had detention together. It was amusing to Will to watch Dylan squirm every time the headmaster would make eye contact with him. Will just sat still the entire time either glaring at the Headmaster or drawing on the desk, whereas Dylan would do his homework.

"Are you taking the bus?", Dylan asked, beginning to walk towards the bus stop.

"No, I'm going to Tay's", Will replied with a smile.

"You two made up?"

"Not yet, but I have a feeling we're going to"

"Aren't you still grounded?"

"No, believe it or not, big brother, but for once you're grounded and I'm not", Will smirked.

Dylan rolled his eyes. He hated being grounded. It made him uncomfortable to think that he had lost his parent's trust. It was evident to everyone in the house that Dylan had been off his game a little bit; he had become a little clumsy, he didn't look anyone in the eye that much, and he kept to himself.

"Whatever. Good luck tonight."

"Thanks, man. Take it easy", Will replied. When he said 'take it easy', he really hoped that Dylan would listen.

* * *

 **Diner, 4:45 pm**

"Dylan, didn't I ask you to mop up that spill?", Luke reminded him.

Dylan looked up from his order pad he had been trying to figure out; he couldn't read his own handwriting.

"Sorry, I'll get right on it", he replied absentmindedly.

Luke looked at him curiously. Dylan looked really off.

"Dylan", Luke addressed him from behind him.

He jumped up at the sound of his name, looking startled.

"Yeah?"

"Are you feeling all right?"

"Yea-yes. I'm fine. I'll go get the mop.", he stuttered, not looking up at his father.

Luke watched Dylan mop up the spill. Luke could sense that Dylan felt uncomfortable around him for the past few days, he almost seemed embarrassed by the way he couldn't look Luke in the eye. The kid was hard on himself, he definitely still felt bad about what he did and felt like he couldn't talk to his parents about it because he was ashamed.

Luke continued to watch the boy as he walked to the supply closet, dragging the mop behind him, then shoving the mop into the closet before slamming it shut. The noise caused all of the patrons to turn and look at him, causing him to blush.

"Dyl, are you sure you're okay?", Luke asked again when Dylan walked back to the counter.

"Yes, I'm fine.", he snapped, not intending to sound rude.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be obnoxious.", he apologized quickly.

"It's okay. I'll be in the kitchen if you need me.", Luke told him.

He nodded.

When Luke walked into the kitchen, Dylan rested his elbows on the counter and buried his head into his hands, trying to figure out what was wrong with him.

"Can I get another coffee?", a man asked, snapping him out of his thoughts.

"Yeah", he replied, looking around for the pot.

He finally found it and realized it was empty. As he went to make a fresh pot the man began to impatiently tap his finger on the table.

"Any day now, kid, I got places to be.", the man huffed. The man was obviously from out of town because Dylan had never seen him before; he was probably just driving through.

"I have to make a fresh pot, we're out.", Dylan explained, holding himself back from rolling his eyes.

The man, however, didn't have a problem with rolling his eyes or waving his cup back and forth until he returned with the pot.

"This better be good for the amount of time it took.", the man muttered.

Dylan ignored him and began to pour the coffee into the cup. He wasn't in the mood to deal with rude people. He was going back into his thoughts and didn't notice that the cup was starting to overflow.

"Hey!", the man exclaimed, snapping in his face.

Dylan immediately jerked the pot away and rushed to get a rag.

"I'm so sorry, Sir.", he apologized, quickly wiping up the mess.

"Start paying attention to what you're doing, kid.", the man scowled.

"Let me get you another cup, on the house.", he offered.

"No, I wanna speak to the manager.", he demanded.

This was the last thing Dylan needed right now.

"I'm really sorry, I wasn't paying attention, I-"

"Can we get the manager out here?", the man called into the kitchen, cutting Dylan off.

Luke heard the commotion and walked out of the kitchen.

"What's going on out here?", Luke asked, looking back from a blushing Dylan to an angry man.

"Are you this kid's boss?", he demanded.

Everyone in the diner was paying attention now; witnessing Will get in trouble was a usual sight for the diner patrons, but it was rare to see Dylan in trouble.

"I own this diner.", Luke confirmed.

"This kid has no idea what he's doing! He spilled hot coffee everywhere, he should just be grateful none of it got on me, this is ridiculous!", he ranted.

Dylan started to speak but Luke stopped him.

"Why don't you calm down?", Luke told the man.

"What are you gonna do about this?"

"I'm gonna tell you to either watch the way you speak to my son or get out of my diner."

"Your son?"

Luke nodded.

"No wonder why he still has a job.", the man spat as he put a five dollar bill on the table then stormed out of the diner.

"Dad, I-"

Luke stopped him again and just motioned for him to follow him into the kitchen.

Luke looked Dylan in the eye, causing Dylan to look down.

"Stop that.", Luke told him.

"What?"

"Stop avoiding my eye."

"Sorry."

"Tomorrow we're going fishing.", Luke decided on the spot.

"What?"

"You and me are going fishing."

"Why?"

"Because I said so."

"I'm still grounded."

"And?"

"Nothing. But-"

"Good. Be ready at seven tomorrow morning."

"Okay."

"Okay."

* * *

 **Taylor's House**

"What do you mean you don't have time for a boyfriend?", Will demanded.

"I have too much going on.", Taylor replied.

"What exactly changed in the past week?"

"A lot."

"Are you planning on telling me anytime soon?"

"Family stuff."

"What does it have to do with me and you?"

"Will-"

"No. Don't 'Will' me. I apologized for getting in trouble at your game last week; I took full responsibility even though I was just standing up for you. The least you could do is just explain to me why you're dumping me."

"I'm not dumping you."

"You basically are. I care about you, I'm always here for you, I-"

"My parents are finalizing their divorce.", she stated quietly.

"What?"

Will was completely taken aback; he didn't even know that Taylor's parents were having problems. Although, he wasn't completely shocked; it made sense why Taylor never had a problem with getting out of the house and taking a cab to Stars Hollow.

"Tay, I'm sorry.", he comforted, pulling her into a hug.

Tears were now streaming down her face.

"My mom wants to move us to New York.", she says in between her soft cries.

"You're moving?"

She nods.

"When?"

"During Christmas break so I won't miss anymore school."

"That's only like a week. How long have you known?"

"Since last Friday."

It was all making sense to him now.

At this point, Taylor was sobbing.

"It's okay, it's okay.", Will assured her, holding her close. Though, he was having a hard time believing it himself.

* * *

 **Danes House, 7:30**

Will walked into the house and slammed the door behind him. Nothing in his life was going right. He had spent his entire evening after detention trying to convince his girlfriend that everything was going to be okay when he didn't believe it himself.

Lorelai heard the noise and walked out of the kitchen.

"Woah, angry teenager, what's up?", she smiled.

Will rolled his eyes and ignored his mother's question.

"Where's my phone?", he snapped.

"What's with the attitude?"

"Mom, I don't wanna talk about it, just give me my phone."

"It's upstairs."

"Can you go get it?", he asked impatiently.

"Not until we talk about what's bothering you."

"Why can't I just be upset for once without everyone meddling?"

"Because, I'm your mother, it's my job to meddle."

She guided him to the couch and he reluctantly sat down beside her.

"What's wrong, kid?", she asked again, rubbing his back soothingly.

He sighed, knowing his mother would get it out of him eventually so it would take less time to just tell her.

"Tay's moving.", he stated, running a hand through his unruly hair.

"Moving? Why?", Lorelai asked in surprise. Of all the things, she wasn't expecting this.

"Her parents are getting a divorce.", he shrugged.

"What? Since when? They seemed fine at parent-teacher conferences."

"Apparently, since a while."

"Did you know?"

"Nope."

"Aw, Will, honey.", Lorelai comforted, hugging her son.

"I'm fine, Mom.", he sighed.

"It's okay to be upset."

He rolled his eyes.

"Where's she moving?"

"New York.", he answered bitterly.

"That's not too far. You can visit her."

"Whatever. It is what it is.", he replied, just wanting to get upstairs and blast his music.

"Are you two gonna keep dating?"

"Probably not."

"You two talked about it?"

"Nope."

"You really should."

"Can I have my phone now?"

Lorelai sighed and got up from the couch with Will trailing behind.

After he got his phone he went into his room and laid back on his bed.

His music was blasting so loud he couldn't hear himself think; just the way he wanted it. He knew his dad wouldn't tolerate the volume being so loud so he took advantage while he could.

After a few minutes, Max walked into his room. Even if he had knocked, which he hadn't, Will wouldn't have heard.

"Let's go play XBOX", Max yelled over the loud music.

"Not right now."

"Why?"

"Because I don't want to."

"Why not?"

"Because I said so. Get out of my room."

"I'm telling Mom!"

"I don't care."

"Mom!", Max yelled at the top of his lungs.

"Max, I swear, if you don't get out of my room in five seconds I'll physically throw you out.", Will threatened, rolling his eyes.

The door to Will's bedroom opened and in came Zoe.

"Could you turn down your trashy music? It's giving me a headache!"

"Why are you guys in my room? Get out!"

"Mom!", Max yelled again.

"Max, shut up!", Will exclaimed.

Lorelai reluctantly walked into what she thought of as the 'war zone'.

"Why is the music so loud?", Lorelai asked as she walked into the room and towards the speaker, turning the music off.

"He's just gonna turn it back on when you leave!", Zoe accused.

"Will's being mean to me!", Max added.

"You're such brats! This is my room! Mom, tell them to get out!"

"Everyone just needs to calm down.", Lorelai started.

"If I'm gonna be locked up in this house, your crap excuse of music isn't going to be playing!", Zoe yelled.

"He said he was going to throw me somewhere!", Max whined.

Will couldn't take it anymore, he wasn't in the mood.

"Whatever, I'm done.", he stated, getting up from his bed.

"Where are you going?", Lorelai asked.

"Out."

"Have fun.", Zoe said sarcastically.

"Yeah, I will. Have fun being grounded."

"Will, get back here.", Lorelai sighed.

"Why? I'm not grounded, I did my time. I need to get out of this house, you're all gonna drive me insane."

"You are insane.", Max glared, sticking his tongue out.

* * *

"Luke, can you just talk to him if he stops by the diner?", Lorelai asks over the phone.

"Lorelai, I love you, but my plate is full enough with one of our kids tonight. Let the kid cool off and as long as he gets home before his curfew, we'll let him be.", Luke instructed over the phone.

Lorelai didn't tell Luke why Will was upset, she figured they could have a talk about it themselves. Luke had always been good at talking to the kids.

Much to his surprise, Luke looked up and saw Will walking past the diner.

"Dylan, I'll be right back.", Luke said, rushing out of the diner to catch up to Will.

Will walked down the sidewalk of his small town, with his earbuds in, blocking out what was going on around him. He ignored the waves he got from some of his neighbors and just continued to walk. It had been a while since he had spent a Friday night in Stars Hollow.

"Will!", Luke called.

Will took one of his earbuds out and turned around to face his father in confusion.

Luke walked up to him.

"Your mother called me.", Luke explained.

Will rolled his eyes.

"Don't roll your eyes.", Luke reprimanded.

"I just need some fresh air, I don't see the big deal. I'm not grounded."

"Relax, I'm not here to send you home. Your mother sent me to talk to you."

Will sighed.

"Dad, with all due respect, I'm really not up for it right now."

"I wasn't exactly up for it when your mother called me, I have a business to run, kid. But clearly your mother's worried about you if she's calling me to talk to you."

The two looked at each other for a minute without saying a word. Luke made it clear that since he had given his word to Lorelai, he would not be leaving until he talked to Will.

"I was just gonna head to the bridge.", Will gave in.

"The infamous bridge. Alright, lead the way.", Luke sighed.

Luke had experience with this bridge, going all the way back to Jess.

As they got closer to the bridge, the memories were all coming back to Luke. The amount of times he had furiously found Jess calmly reading here at midnight after Luke had discovered Jess had snuck out. Most teenagers would sneak out in the middle of the night to go to parties and get drunk, which Jess had done a few times, but Jess's main reason for sneaking out of the apartment was to come to the bridge and read.

Oddly enough, Luke's lips curled into a soft smile when they approached the bridge. He half expected to see Jess sitting there with a book. But there was no Jess. It was just him and his son.

Luke adjusted the baseball cap on Will's head.

Will walked to the middle of the bridge and sat down, allowing his legs to hang over the edge. Luke sat beside him.

"You know Mom gets upset when you storm out, son.", Luke started.

"Sorry.", he grumbled.

"You don't have to apologize, you're not in trouble. I just wanna know what's up and she wants to make sure you're okay."

"I told her, I'm fine."

"Can you give me a little more detail?"

Will realized that Lorelai hadn't told Luke the reason why Will was upset.

"My girlfriend's moving to New York."

"Taylor?"

"No, Dad, my other girlfriend.", he replied sarcastically.

Luke ignored the sarcastic remark and placed a hand on Will's back.

"It'll be alright, kid. I know it sucks."

"It's whatever."

"Is that why you needed to get out of the house?"

"Zoe and Max were getting on my nerves on top of it and I couldn't deal with it."

Luke chuckled.

"You tend to have that effect on people too.", Luke teased.

Will rolled his eyes and grabbed the baseball cap off of Luke's head and pretended to throw it in the lake.

"This is the same spot I pushed Jess in, I won't hesitate to do it again."

Will laughed lightly and handed the cap back to his father.

"All kidding aside, are you gonna be okay?"

Will shrugged.

"I told you, I'm fine."

Luke didn't necessarily believe him but he decided to let him be, badgering him would only make things worse.

"It really sucks now but it'll get easier."

"Dad, look at me."

Luke looked at him.

"In case you forgot, I can get any girl I want. I'll be fine."

"I know you really cared about Tay."

"It's whatever.", Will sighed.

Luke sighed as well; this was one talk that just wasn't getting through.

* * *

 **Sorry it took so long to write, I kept wanting to upload but then I kept wanting to write more haha. Thank you so much for all of the reviews, I've never had that many, they really helped as I was writing this chapter! What did you guys think of this chapter? What did you think of the talk between Will and Luke? What do you think will happen between Taylor and Will? How do you think the fishing trip between Dylan and Luke will go? Let me know! :)**


	16. Chapter 16

**Lake 7:30 AM Saturday**

Luke stared back at Dylan who had barely said a word since they had gotten up. Dylan usually would've loved the idea of fishing with just his father, it made him feel close to Luke. Instead, he was now awaiting the moment he could go home because he knew that the longer they were out here, the more his father would make him explain himself.

Luke sighed as Dylan held back a yawn.

"What's up with you, Dyl?", Luke asked.

"Nothing."

"You know why I love these fishing trips?"

Dylan shook his head.

"Because it's the perfect time to get away from everything. Especially nowadays when everybody's focused on technology and those damned phones you kids always carry around. Right now, it's just me and you, no distractions."

"I know I'm still grounded, so thanks for bringing me out here.", Dylan said, trying to drift away from talking about what Luke really wanted to talk about.

"Sometimes all you need is a day away."

He nodded in agreement with his father.

"You're smart enough to know that there's a reason why I brought you out here.", Luke stated.

"Yes, sir.", he replied respectfully, waiting for him to continue.

"Dylan, this week was bad. I think we can both agree on that."

He nodded.

"I know you're hard on yourself and I know you've been beating yourself up over it."

He sighed and nodded again.

"Look at me, son."

He finally looked up at Luke.

"I'm not saying what happened should be taken lightly but everyone's allowed to make a mistake here and there. I don't want you to keep beating yourself up over it and I don't ever want you to feel so ashamed that you don't even talk to me about it."

Luke waited for Dylan to say something.

"I hate disappointing you and Mom.", he finally admitted, quietly.

"Dyl, Mom and I will always be so proud of you. You're a good kid."

Dylan gave a slight smile. He knew Luke rarely gave out compliments, especially to the kids because he was a firm believer in 'tough love'. Luke meant every word he said. In Luke's mind, there was not a kid in the world who was more honest, polite, dependable, kind-hearted, or genuine than his eldest son.

"Thanks, Dad."

Luke patted Dylan's back.

* * *

 **Danes House 10:00 AM**

"Mom, you have to let me go!", Zoe whined, following Lorelai around the house as she got ready for work.

"No means no. You sound like a child, Zoe.", Lorelai exasperated.

"This is so not fair!", she yelled.

Zoe and Lorelai had been going at it for an hour. Max and Will usually slept until noon on Saturdays but they were both wide awake this morning.

Will had just about had enough.

"Zoe, shut up!", Will yelled from his room.

"You're so annoying!", Max yelled from his room.

"Stay out of it!", Zoe yelled back in no particular direction.

"You're staying grounded and that's final.", Lorelai decided.

"You would let Will or Dylan go!", she argued.

"You and I both know that's not true. You get away with a lot in this house, kid, don't push it."

"You know, what? This whole thing is so stupid! I apologized to Grandma, I returned the clothes! Why is it okay for you and Dad to ask for money and not me?"

Lorelai was shocked that they were revisiting this conversation. She was never going to learn her lesson.

"I'm not discussing this again with you. The fact that you still don't understand just proves that you clearly still need to be grounded."

"This whole thing wouldn't have happened if you had just bought the clothes in the first place.", Zoe muttered, not expecting Lorelai to hear. Unfortunately for her, Lorelai did.

In that moment, Lorelai's mind was made up in regards to the rest of Zoe's punishment. Zoe still didn't understand the value of a dollar and Lorelai was going to teach it to her.

"Get dressed.", Lorelai simply told her.

"I can go?", she exclaimed excitedly.

"Just get dressed. Quickly please.", Lorelai repeated.

Zoe ran upstairs, figuring her mom meant she would drop her off at her grandmother's or something so she would be able to go later that night. Lorelai had different plans. She was going to take Zoe to the Inn and teach her a lesson about money.

* * *

 **Inn 11:00 AM**

"Why are we here?", Zoe asked, getting out of the car with a full face of make up, hair done, and in one of her favorite and most uncomfortable outfits.

"Because I have to work."

"Why am I here?"

"You'll see in a second, Zo."

"I thought you were dropping me off in Hartford or something."

Lorelai walked into the inn with Zoe following her, confused.

Instead of going straight to the desk like she usually does, she walked to the kitchen.

"Hey, Sookie.", Lorelai greeted.

"Hey, Lorel- and Zoe, is that you? You haven't been here in a while, honey, how are you?", Sookie exclaimed, running over to hug Zoe.

"I'm good.", she forced a smile.

"Is Nate around?", Lorelai asked.

"He's working the brunch"

"Could you go get him, Sook?"

"Sure. And have some coffee, I just made a fresh pot."

"Thanks, hon."

When Sookie walked away, Zoe turned back to her mom.

"What's this about? Why am I here?"

"Zoe, I love you, honey, but you need to start understanding what it means to have some responsibility. Your work ethic needs improvement and you don't understand the value of a dollar."

"Where is this going?"

"I've decided that you're gonna start helping me out here."

"Here? At the Inn?"

"Yep."

"Mom! You can't do that! Dad won't allow it!"

"I assure you, your father and I are on the same page."

"You can't do this to me!"

"Today you're gonna be helping out with whatever the kitchen staff needs help with until I figure out a schedule of what needs to be done around here."

"This isn't fair!"

"What part of this isn't fair? I was just a little older than you when I got my first job as a maid here. Honey, you have it so good, I'm just trying to help you."

She could feel the tears forming in her eyes.

"You wouldn't do this to Rory!"

"If you're not gonna be mature, it just further proves my reasons for doing this. You'll thank me when you're older."

Sookie walked back into the kitchen with a boy who looked to be around the same age as Zoe.

"Hi, Nate.", Lorelai greeted.

Nate was one of the newer employees that Lorelai had hired. He was a teenager who was trying to make enough money to go to college.

"Hi, Lorelai. You wanted to see me?", the boy replied, appearing a little nervous.

"Yeah. I want you to meet my daughter, Zoe."

"Hi, nice to meet you."

Zoe just gave a slight nod in response, standing there with her arms crossed.

"Today's Zoe's first day of helping out a little around here. If there's any work to be done, or anything that needs assistance she'd be happy to help.", Lorelai smiled.

"Yeah, real happy.", Zoe scoffed.

"I'm sure we'll find something.", Nate replied, holding back a smirk.

"Great, let me know if there's any problems.", Lorelai concluded, giving Zoe a look.

* * *

"This sucks", Zoe whined as she and Nate were cleaning up the brunch.

"We just started.", he replied, holding himself back from rolling his eyes.

Zoe glared at him.

"I don't wanna be rude, but all you've been doing since we started five minutes ago is complain and watch me clean this up. You know, you're supposed to be helping me."

"I'm not touching anything with food on it, this is one of my favorite outfits."

Nate scoffed.

"Don't you think you're a little overdressed?"

"I'm not even supposed to be here right now! I'm supposed to be getting ready to go to my boyfriend's house!"

"Sorry for the inconvenience.", he muttered sarcastically.

Zoe rolled her eyes.

"This sucks.", she repeated.

"So, I've heard."

"My mom sucks. I can't believe she would do this to me.", Zoe went on.

"Look, I know you feel like you're above this whole thing but if you're just gonna stand there and complain, go stand somewhere else, because I'm actually trying to get some work done."

"Someone clearly woke up on the wrong side of the bed. What's your problem?"

"My problem is people like you who think they're entitled."

"I don't think I'm entitled."

"Whatever."

Zoe narrowed her eyes at him. This guy was different than any of the other guys she had ever talked to. He actually contradicted her.

* * *

 **4:00 pm**

Zoe had managed to avoid doing most of the jobs assigned to her the entire day but now she was asked to help bust tables for the lunch hour. There was no way she was going to do that. After arguing with Nate for ten minutes, she knew what she was going to do.

"Your mom said she wanted you to help.", Nate repeated for the tenth time.

"Fine.", Zoe stated.

"Fine?", Nate asked surprised at how suddenly she had changed her mind.

"Yeah. Can I just use your phone for a second?"

"My phone? Why?"

"I have to call my boyfriend and let him know I can't go to his house tonight."

"Use your own phone."

"My mom took it away."

"Fine, whatever, just make it quick.", he agreed, handing her the phone and walking out to the dining room.

When she was sure no one was listening, she dialed up a cab company. Zoe knew her parents would be furious but she figured she could handle it.

"I need a cab."

"Alright, what's your pick up location?"

"Back exit of the Dragonfly Inn."

"To where?"

"22 Estate Lane, Hartford."

"Sure thing. A driver will be there in ten minutes."

"Thank you."

* * *

 **I know this was a short chapter but i hope you enjoyed! Let me know what you thought!:)**


	17. Chapter 17

**Nick's House, 4:45 PM**

Zoe paid the cab driver and stood before the large, impressive house. Across the street from Nick's house was her grandparent's house, she figured that worked out perfectly because one of her grandparents would be able to give her a ride home afterwards.

She walked up the driveway and rang the doorbell. Nick opened it a moment later, looking confused.

"You're early.", he stated.

That wasn't the greeting Zoe was expecting but she brushed it off.

"Just couldn't wait to see you any longer.", she smiled, pulling him into a hug.

"Yeah, come in, but my parents are still home.", he replied awkwardly.

Zoe was confused on why his parents being home was a problem. Her parents would have a fit if they knew they were going to be in the house without supervision.

"Nicholas, did you get the door?", Nick's mother called from upstairs.

"Yes, Mom. Zoe's here.", he called back.

"I'll be down in a minute to say hello."

Nick rolled his eyes and led Zoe to the couch in front of the tv, where Zoe figured he had obviously spent his entire day judging from the empty bags of chips surrounding the couch.

"I'm so happy we got to do this.", Zoe smiled.

"Yeah, I just wish my parents would leave already.", he muttered back.

"Look at this mess, Nicholas.", Nick's mother exasperated, walking into the living room.

"I forgot Rosie had the day off, sorry.", he replied, not looking up from the tv.

"Hi, honey, how are you?", his mother greeted, turning her attention to Zoe.

"I'm good. How are you?", she responded.

"I'm fine, thanks. Nicholas, your father and I will be back around midnight."

"Alright."

"Have a nice time, tonight, you two."

"Thank you.", Zoe smiled.

Nick watched his mother join his father outside.

As soon as he heard the car start, he walked to the refrigerator and got two beers.

"Want one, Zo?"

"I'm good, but thanks."

"Alright.", he replied, chugging half the bottle down.

"So what do you wanna do?", Zoe asked.

"I had a few things in mind.", Nick smirked.

Zoe giggled as they began to kiss.

* * *

 **Inn 5:30**

The inn was short-staffed that day and Nate was rushing around trying to clear tables.

When Zoe didn't come back in the dining room after she had taken a call on his cell phone, he had walked back into the kitchen to look for her and found his cell phone by the stove. After looking for her for ten minutes he figured it would be better just to cover for her.

He was so focused on getting everything done quickly, he almost bumped into Lorelai.

"Woah, slow down, Nate. Are you the only one out here?", Lorelai asked.

"I'm all good.", Nate replied.

"Where's Zoe?"

"She... she went to the bathroom.", he lied.

"Oh, okay. I guess I should wait to talk to her, I bet she's still mad at me."

"No, you don't have to wait. She's fine. She's not mad."

"Really? She looked like she wanted to bite my head off this morning."

Nate chuckled nervously. He didn't know why he was covering for Zoe but he felt like it was his job to keep an eye on her and he failed at it.

"She's been doing really well."

"Are we talking about the same Zoe? My Zoe?", Lorelai joked.

"Yep, she's...yeah.", he said, struggling to find the right words.

"Well, I'll let you get to it. Please tell her that I stopped by and wanted to know how she was doing."

"Will do."

"Thanks."

"Dammit.", he muttered under his breath as Lorelai walked away.

* * *

 **Nick's House**

"Nick.", Zoe giggled, as he continued kissing her.

"I've been waiting for tonight all week.", he said, slurring his words a bit, as he came up for air.

Zoe smiled to herself. She was so happy that for once he seemed excited to hang out with her and actually made the plans.

"Why don't we go upstairs?", he suggested.

"Okay.", she agreed with a little bit of confusion. She didn't understand what was wrong with the couch.

He held her hand as they went upstairs. He was in the best mood Zoe had ever seen him in and that made her happy. She decided it was completely worth it to bail out on her mom and that whatever consequences she would have to face, she would without regret.

They walked into his room.

"You look hot.", he said out of nowhere, causing Zoe to giggle more.

"Thanks.", she smirked, moving closer to him. This was normal for both of them. Their time together would usually be spent making out on the couch until a parent walked in. Zoe could sense at the back of her mind that something was different with Nick.

He guided her to his bed and they continued their make out session.

"Zo.", he said, as he somehow was now on top of her.

"Yeah?"

"Let's do this!", he exclaimed.

"Do what?"

"It! Let's freaking do it!", he replied, starting to pull Zoe's shirt off of her.

"What the hell are you doing?", Zoe demanded, trying to push him off of her.

"I love you, Zoe Danes. I wanna prove it.", he slurred, taking off his shirt.

"You're drunk and out of your mind.", she stated, now more annoyed than startled.

She attempted to get up again and he pulled her back. Now she was getting a little nervous.

"I'm serious Nick, let go of me!"

"No. We're doing this."

"Are you insane? I'm not doing anything with you! Get off of me!"

She managed to get out from under him.

"Come on!", he yelled.

"Is this why you invited me over? Were you just trying to have sex with me?", she demanded, on the verge of tears.

"Why the hell did you think I invited you over?", he yelled.

"You're unbelievable!", she cried, heading for the door.

"If you leave, we're done.", he threatened.

"Consider yourself dumped!", she retorted, then ran downstairs. She cried quietly as she tried to figure out what to do.

She didn't have her cell phone so she could either go to her grandparents' or she could use Nick's house phone.

She didn't want her grandparents to see her in the state she was in so she figured her best bet would be to quickly call someone to pick her up; Nick didn't seem to be following her downstairs.

She found the land line and dialed the first number that came to mind; Dylan's number. After remembering that Dylan didn't have his phone either because he was grounded, she called her house and hoped that he was back from his fishing trip.

After two rings, the familiar voice of her older brother came on.

"Hello?, Dylan's voice said through the phone.

"Dylan!", she cried out, in the middle of her sobs.

"Zoe? Is that you?"

"I need you to come pick me up!", she continued.

"What? Are you okay?"

"Please, just hurry! I'm at Nick's house.", she continued.

"In Hartford? Did he hurt you? I'll kill the jackass."

"Dylan, please, just hurry!"

"Okay, I have to find the keys to the truck. Go to Grandma and Grandpa's and stay put."

"No! They'll tell Mom and Dad! Please, don't say anything. I'll explain later. I'm waiting outside of Nick's."

"Okay, Zo, don't worry. I'm leaving right now. If he comes near you, promise me you'll run to Grandma and Grandpa's."

"I promise, just hurry, please.", she sniffled.

She hung up the phone and began to sob as she walked out of the house. She had messed up and she knew it. She wished she would've just stayed at the Inn with her mom.

* * *

 **6:30 pm**

Dylan sped down the street and pulled up to where he saw his little sister sitting miserably on the grass in front of her boyfriend's house. He had made it to Hartford in record time and hadn't even bothered telling his parents he was leaving the house.

He ran out of the car and hugged his little sister.

"Are you okay?", he demanded.

Zoe cried into Dylan's shoulder.

"What did the bastard do to you?"

"Can we please just talk about it at home? I don't wanna be here anymore."

Dylan nodded and walked to the passenger side of the car and held the door open for her. As he helped her get in, he looked at the mansion in front of him and wanted nothing more than to storm in there and knock Nick senseless.

He got into the car and sat there for a moment.

"Zo, are you gonna tell me what happened?"

She wiped her eyes and sniffled.

"Nick and I broke up.", she cried.

"I'm sorry."

"Because he wanted to have sex.", she continued, beginning to sob again.

"What? I'm gonna beat the living shit out of him."

"We broke up because he was trying to have sex with me and wouldn't let me go and when I got up he said if I left we were done.", she sputtered.

Dylan was furious. He was about to get out of the car and give Nick a piece of his mind but looked back at his little sister who looked terrified. He decided that Zoe needed him right now and that was his priority.

"Let's go home, Zo.", he concluded.

"Thanks for picking me up, Dyl. I know you're grounded but I didn't know who else to call."

"If you're ever in trouble, you know I'll be there. I don't care if I have to drive a hundred miles, I'll be there, Zo."

"I love you.", she told him.

"I love you too.", he comforted, beginning to drive home.

* * *

 **Wow, this was a hard chapter to write. Tell me what you thought, your reviews make me so happy! :)**


	18. Chapter 18

**Danes House**

"There you are!", Lorelai exclaimed, sounding relieved, as soon as Zoe and Dylan walked into the house.

"You snuck out of the Inn? What were you thinking?", Luke demanded.

"Mom, Dad-", Dylan tried but Luke cut him off.

"And where were you, Dylan? You took the truck without telling me, not to mention, you weren't supposed to leave the house!", Luke added.

"Could you both just relax for a second?", Dylan raised his voice.

Lorelai and Luke both stopped for a moment then took a look at Zoe, who looked like she had been crying.

"Are you okay?", Luke asked Zoe.

"Has she been crying?", Lorelai whispered to Dylan.

Zoe could feel the tears forming in her eyes and she hated crying in front of people so she ran up to her room before anyone else could see.

"Zoe, come back here!", Luke called after her.

"Dad, let her go.", Dylan said.

"You wanna explain what the hell is going on?", Luke intoned.

"Did you pick her up from the Inn?", Lorelai asked.

"I don't know the whole story but I picked her up from Nick's house."

"I thought we said she couldn't go.", Luke clarified.

"We did. I don't know when she snuck out of the Inn but all I know is, I went to take her home and Nate admitted that he didn't know where she was.", Lorelai explained.

"So she snuck out and went to Nick's.", Luke exasperated.

"Dylan, you better have a damn good explanation for leaving the house without letting us know."

"I don't know what I'm allowed to tell you. I'm sorry. But, I really think you should talk to her. And the only reason I didn't tell you guys I was leaving was because I didn't have my cell phone and as soon as Zoe called me I just left. I completely forgot about leaving a note and I know it was irresponsible."

Lorelai sighed.

"Okay, you can go to your room now.", Luke instructed.

He nodded and did as he was told.

"I don't even know what's going on around here half the time", Luke admitted, adjusting his baseball cap.

"Parenthood is great, isn't it?", Lorelai joked.

"Well, we better go up and talk to Zoe.", Luke said.

Lorelai thought for a moment.

"If she had to be picked up from her boyfriend's house, this sounds like a girl talk. I'll go up first.", she decided.

"Whatever you think is best.", he replied.

Lorelai walked up the stairs to Zoe's room, mentally preparing herself for the storm that was about to come. She stopped at the door when she began to hear Dylan's voice coming from inside; she couldn't help herself from eavesdropping.

"Aw, Zo, don't cry. The scumbag's not worth it.", Dylan quietly comforted his little sister. Zoe was sobbing into Dylan's shoulder.

Lorelai figured that she and Nick had probably broken up. She listened intently.

"How could I be so stupid? I should've known he wouldn't just invite me over unless he wanted something.", Zoe cried.

"Don't say that. Any guy should consider himself lucky, don't sell yourself short."

Lorelai smiled slightly at the sound of Dylan giving Zoe a pep talk. She figured it was her turn.

Lorelai knocked on the door once before walking in.

"Sorry, I know I was supposed to go to my room.", Dylan apologized.

"It's okay, Dyl, can you just give us a moment?", Lorelai replied.

Dylan nodded and pulled Zoe into a hug before walking out of the room.

Zoe was trying to contain herself up until her mom asked her if she was okay. As soon as the words left Lorelai's mouth, Zoe began to sob harder.

"Oh, Zoe, honey, what happened?", Lorelai asked, putting her arms around her daughter and allowing to cry into her shoulder.

"M-mom! I d-don't know what to say", she sniffled in between her crying.

"Just tell me what happened, don't be afraid."

Lorelai handed her a box of tissues and let Zoe calm herself down. Once she stopped sobbing, they sat side by side and Zoe realized she would have to start talking about it.

Lorelai nodded softly, telling her she could start anytime she was comfortable.

"Nick wanted to have sex.", she stated quietly.

Lorelai's mouth dropped and she automatically assumed the worst. Her heart began to pound and a feeling of nauseousness came before her.

"Don't worry, I didn't!", Zoe exclaimed quickly when she saw her mother go pale.

"Oh, thank God", Lorelai said, feeling her goosebumps go away.

"I said no.", she continued, looking down and feeling the tears coming on again.

"Good girl. Is that what you were afraid to say?"

"Mom...", she began again, tears streaming down her face.

"Did he hurt you?"

She didn't know how to answer. She felt like she had been stabbed in the heart.

"He was kinda drunk and I got really scared because he got so mad when I said I didn't want to.", she cried.

"Oh my God, honey, I'm so sorry you had to go through that. Did he hurt you?", Lorelai worried.

"I ran away from him and called Dylan but he started yelling at me. He said that we were done and now he's probably going to tell everyone.", she sobbed.

"I'm emailing your school and calling on Monday.", Lorelai decided. She had half a mind to call the police.

"No! You can't do that!"

"Honey, I know you think it'll only make things worse but I don't want that kid anywhere near you. I want him out."

"Mom! His parents give the school money every year, he's not going anywhere. The only thing that'll do is make all my friends hate me!"

Lorelai sighed and realized she should be comforting her daughter right now and she would just discuss the matter with Luke later.

"You shouldn't have had to go through that, Zo, I'm so sorry", Lorelai hugged her. Zoe curled up into her mothers arms and Lorelai kissed her forehead wondering where the time had gone. It seemed like just yesterday when Zoe was still calling her mommy and dressing up like a princess. Their problems went from Zoe not wanting to take off her princess dress so Lorelai could wash it, to Zoe coming home crying from her boyfriend's house because he wanted to have drunken sex.

"I'm sorry I lied to you. I'm sorry I'm a terrible daughter.", Zoe continued crying.

"You're not a terrible daughter, you're just a teenager. Daddy and I will always love you no matter what.", Lorelai assured her.

"It's just that-", she sniffled, not wanting to continue her thought.

"What is it, honey?"

"It's just that sometimes I feel like I have to be extra confident to convince myself and everyone around me that I'm good enough.", she admitted.

"You will never not be good enough for anything if you're just yourself, hon."

"You have to say that, you're my mom."

"What wouldn't you be good enough for?", Lorelai asked, now actually curious. She had never seen this side of Zoe before. This was the first time they've been having a real conversation in months.

She shrugged, blushing.

"We've gotten this far, kid, you might as well give me the whole story.", Lorelai smiled.

"I don't know. I feel like I'm not good enough for my friends, my school... sometimes you and Daddy."

"Oh, Zo, I don't ever want you to feel that way."

"You guys always talk about how amazing Rory is and how she never gave you guys trouble. Dylan, Will, and Max have it so easy. If one of them screws up, there's still two more of them. I'm the only girl and I don't think I can live up to Rory.", she sniffled, embarrassed.

Lorelai wasn't sure what to say; this was the last thing she expected to come out of Zoe's mouth.

"That's not true. We love you. Everyone loves you and everyone messes up. You just have to be yourself and that's good enough."

"Everyone gets told that since preschool. 'Be yourself and everything will be okay', 'be yourself and you'll have friends', 'all you have to do is be yourself', it's all bullcrap. Every time I've been myself it's either ended up in me losing a friend or getting in trouble."

Lorelai took a deep breath. She wasn't sure which direction to go in, she didn't want to make it seem like it was okay what Zoe had been getting away with. She couldn't help but think that if she had more boundaries and consequences, she never would've snuck out and they wouldn't have been in this situation.

"It's not bullcrap, Zoe. Your father and I will always love you for who you are and if the rest of the world doesn't, they're not worth your time. But I won't lie to you, hon, things are gonna have to change around here. I don't want you to have to go through this again. Daddy and I will always try to do what's best for you but we can't do it alone, you have to listen to us and cooperate. Do you understand?"

Zoe was surprised at the sudden change of tone. She moved slightly out of her mother's arms to face her. Lorelai wiped the tears off of Zoe's face with a tissue.

"I understand.", Zoe nodded.

Lorelai smiled at her and pulled her into a hug.

"Is Daddy really mad?", Zoe asks.

"Right now, he doesn't even know what's going on. I have to go fill him in in a way that he won't get arrested for the murder of Nick."

* * *

"Hey, Dad?", Will said, coming down the stairs slowly, not sure if it was okay for him to be out of his room. He had been hearing all of the commotion and usually at times like this there was a general understanding that the kids not involved kept to themselves and out of their parents' way.

"What is it, Will?", Luke asked tiredly, taking a beer out of the fridge, trying to put together what his night had become.

"Is Zoe okay?", he asked, putting his hands in his pockets.

Luke looked at his son, clearly embarrassed for asking about his sister, not wanting to come off as a softie. He reminded Luke of his self in a lot of different ways.

Luke sighed and shook his head.

"I really don't know right now. Your mom's upstairs talking to her and I'm just supposed to wait."

"Oh. I just heard a lot of crying and Zoe doesn't really cry that much, I was just... you know what? Never mind.", Will blushed, starting to go upstairs.

Luke couldn't help but chuckle.

"Sit down, kid, it's okay to care for your sister."

Will rolled his eyes and took a seat opposite his father.

"I couldn't sleep, that's the only reason why I asked", he lied.

"Yeah, yeah. Is Max worried too? Tell him he can come down if he wants."

"Max is playing his game, I'm pretty sure he has everything else tuned out."

"Figures.", Luke chuckles, taking a sip of his beer.

"Can I have one?", Will smirks, jokingly.

Luke smacks him on the back of his head and rolls his eyes.

"Ow.", Will laughs, rubbing the back of his head.

"I'll pretend you didn't say that.", Luke smiles.

"Yeah, yeah."

"What is taking your mother so long?", Luke wondered out loud.

"They're girls. Everything's a freaking guessing game, they're allowed to just ignore you for as long as they want but, God forbid, you do something wrong and it's the end of the God-damned world. Next thing you know, they tell you they're moving and that's that.", Will mutters, getting up to get a soda out of the fridge.

Luke just blinked in confusion.

"Alright, what's going on with you?"

"I don't wanna talk about it."

"Sure sounds like you do."

"Well, I don't.", Will said shortly.

Before Luke could protest, he heard Lorelai coming down the stairs.

He got up from the table and met her at the bottom of the staircase with Will following.

"Is she okay? Can I go up?"

"She's gonna be alright. She went through a lot tonight and I don't think we should overwhelm her."

"Overwhelm her? She's my daughter and she was sobbing, I'm gonna talk to her."

"Hon, I didn't say don't talk to her. Just don't lecture or interrogate her. Right now she just has to know that she's surrounded by people that love her. I'll fill you in later."

Luke thought about it and nodded in acceptance.

"Will, can you go check on Max? I don't want him to be worried.", Lorelai requested.

"Fine.", he mumbled.

Luke went up the stairs and knocked on Zoe's door.

"Zoe? It's Daddy."

Will, who was on his way to Max's room, turned around and smirked.

"Hi, _Daddy",_ Will teased.

Luke gave Will his 'don't test me right now' face and Will quickly wiped the smirk off his face and walked into Max's room.

"Come in", Zoe finally said, in a low voice.

Luke slowly walked in and took in the sight of his little girl surrounded by used tissues and eye make up running down her face.

"Oh, Zo, don't cry, sweetie.", Luke said softly, taking a seat next to his daughter on her bed. Luke was fully aware that his soft spot had been activated and he didn't care.

"I didn't mean to disappoint you", she cried, leaning on Luke's shoulder.

"I love you, Zoe. I can't stand to see you cry."

She just cried harder.

"Life sucks, I suck, everything sucks."

"Don't say that. Whatever happened tonight, we're gonna get through it, I promise you. Okay?"

Zoe nodded.

"This won't happen again. Trust me, I'll make sure you won't even be in the position for it to happen again.", Luke assured her, knowing that he would have to start putting his foot down more often when it came to consequences for Zoe.

"I wish I had never snuck out."

"I wish you didn't either, but you did. Actions have consequences and I'm sure you realize that now.", he responded, using a line he had used on Jess many times before.

There was a pause and neither of them said anything for a minute.

"I'm really tired, can I get some rest?"

"Sure thing. We'll talk tomorrow."

"Love you, Dad."

Luke gave a small smile as he got up from the bed.

"I love you more, Zoe.", he said before walking out of the room.

* * *

 _ **Sorry I took so long. I had writers block, then I didn't have time, and then I was on vacation and kept putting it off lol. I hope you enjoyed reading and I promise I'll be more active. Please let me know what you thought, it'll make writing the next chapter a lot easier ;) What do you guys wanna see more of? And I know a lot of you were wondering about Rory and don't worry, she will be making an appearance soon. Thanks!**_


	19. Chapter 19

**Danes House 11:00 am**

It had been almost a week since the incident with Nick and Zoe and things at the Danes House were calm; as calm as a house could be with four kids. Lorelai contacted Nick's parents and with the help of Zoe, they convinced Lorelai not to bring school officials into it since nothing had happened as long as Nick stayed away from Zoe. Christmas break had officially started which meant that Jess was due for a visit and for Will, his girlfriend was about to move to New York.

Will dragged himself down the stairs to join his family for the mandatory family breakfast Lorelai had wanted on the first day of Christmas break.

"Morning", Luke called to Will from the stove, finishing up the pancakes.

Will just nodded tiredly and sat down next to Max at the table.

"See? Isn't it nice having a relaxing family breakfast?", Lorelai inquired to her kids who responded with eye rolls and grunts.

Luke set the pancakes on the table and stepped back as the kids all attacked the plate.

"Mommy gets first dibs", Lorelai joined in, grabbing the first pancake.

Luke chuckled at the sight of his family fighting over the food.

"So, what are everyone's plans for today?", Luke asked.

"I'm going to the park with my friends", Max answered, with his mouth full of food.

"Zoe's coming with me to the Inn. Right, Zo?", Lorelai reminded Zoe.

"Yep.", she replied, trying not to sound too annoyed. She had promised herself and her parents that they would see an attitude adjustment from her and that she would start to listen to directions.

"And you boys are coming with me?", Luke asked Dylan and Will.

Dylan nodded as Will shook his head.

"I'm not coming in today", Will stated.

"Ok, you wanna tell me why?"

"Not really, but you're gonna make me.", he muttered under his breath.

Luke waited for an answer.

"Taylor's leaving tomorrow, I have to help her pack."

Luke immediately felt bad for bringing it up.

"Oh, of course. You can take off tomorrow, too, don't worry about it."

Will gave a slight smile.

"Are you two gonna do that whole long distance thing?", Zoe asked.

He shrugged in response, not looking up from his food.

"You don't know yet? Seriously?", Zoe asked in disbelief.

"We haven't really talked about it, mind your own business", he snapped, rolling his eyes.

Lorelai felt the rising tension and quickly asked Zoe to pass the syrup before she had a chance to say anything else to upset Will. He had been keeping to himself more and more lately.

"Dylan, can I use your baseball bat today when I go to play with my friends?", Max asked.

"No.", Dylan answered without having to give it a second thought.

"Why not?"

"Because every time you throw a temper tantrum when one of your friends cheat or accuse you of cheating, you have a habit of throwing your baseball bat across the field and every time you've borrowed it, it's always come back scratched up."

"It's too big for you, buddy. What's wrong with yours?", Luke asked.

"Dylan's is better."

The doorbell rang and all eyes landed on Luke to get up and get the door.

"Is anyone expecting anybody?", Luke asked as he got up from his seat.

Everyone shook their heads.

"It's probably just Babette or Kirk", Luke said as he opened the door.

Much to Luke's surprise, it wasn't Babette or Kirk. It was his nephew, Jess.

"Jess! What are you doing here?", Luke exclaimed, pulling him into a hug.

"I told you I was coming to visit.", Jess replied, smiling at his uncle.

"Yeah, you said you were coming in a week."

"Well, I guess it's your lucky day", he smirked, walking into the house.

"Jess!", Max exclaimed jumping up from his seat and running into his cousin's arms.

"Hey, squirt.", he smiled.

Everyone else got up to greet Jess.

"Hey, kid, long time no see.", Lorelai greeted, hugging the once mischievous teenager she had come to love like her own.

"Hey, Lorelai. How you been?", Jess smiled.

"Well, I'm not bleeding or anything.", Lorelai smirked, using the line Jess had used on her when he was a teenager whenever she had asked him how he was doing.

Jess returned the smirk.

"Hey, man", Dylan greeted with a fist bump and back pat.

"What's up, bro?", Jess replied.

Luke smiled watching the kids light up as they talked to Jess. He had missed his mischievous nephew and could tell that the kids missed their fun cousin. His eyes landed on Will who had just started to get up from his seat to greet Jess. Jess had always been Will's favorite family member; he looked up to him. It worried Luke that even the sight of Jess couldn't get Will out of his slump, even for a moment.

"No girlfriend this time?", Zoe smirked.

"You know, I've decided to join a cult. I'm really looking forward to taking that vow of chastity", Jess replied sarcastically.

"Really missed that sense of humor.", Zoe replies just as sarcastic as Jess.

"Really missed that obnoxious tone of entitlement.", Jess retorts, hugging Zoe.

"Hey, man", Will greeted.

"William Danes.", Jess acknowledged, with a smile.

Jess knew how much Will looked up to him and adored him. When Will was younger, Jess would teach him pranks to pull on his family and diner patrons, how to get out of chores, which hair gel to use, and mainly, how to get on Luke's last nerve.

"You can put your stuff down in Will's room.", Luke instructed, knowing that Will would be more than okay with sharing his room with Jess.

"Yeah, that's smart, stick the two messiest people in an already messy room.", Lorelai joked.

"I can stay with Dylan if that's easier.", Jess offered. Though he would never want to make Will feel bad, he secretly enjoyed Dylan's company the most. He related to Dylan and respected him for excelling in everything he did.

"You can stay with me!", Max exclaimed.

"Nah, don't worry about it.", Will said.

Jess followed Will to his room.

"I missed you, man", Will admitted.

"I'd miss me too", Jess said in a monotone, putting his stuff down on the already messy floor.

"You can take the bed, I'll sleep on the floor."

"Nah, it's cool I'll put some blankets and pillows on the floor and make a bed; anything's better than that damned couch above the diner."

Will was happy that Jess was gonna be around for the holidays; everything was more fun with Jess.

"Big man, what are your plans for the day?", Jess asked.

"Going to Hartford."

"Visiting the grandparents. Always a good time.", he replied sarcastically.

"Actually, yours truly gets to go to his girlfriend's house to help her move out of her house."

"Where's she moving?"

"New York."

"What?"

"You heard me."

"That really sucks."

"I don't really wanna talk about it."

"Good, me either.", Jess stated, reminding Will once again, why he loved Jess.

* * *

After Jess had thrown his stuff in Will's room, he decided to take a walk down memory lane and wander around the small town. It wasn't surprising to him that it hadn't changed much; neither had he, after all.

He made his way to the bridge and stared back at his reflection in the water. A feeling of nostalgia came across him as he thought back to every single time he sat on the very bridge as a teenager. The very bridge that his uncle had pushed him off of. The very bridge he resorted to as his safe spot when the small, crazy town was getting on his nerves.

After taking a half hour to sit down and read for old times sake, he got up and continued his walk.

He ended up at the diner, where it really all began.

It was nice being able to walk through the door not dreading the bell above it because it would wake Luke up when he would be trying to sneak in after curfew.

"Hey, Jess.", Dylan greeted.

"Hey, man. Where's Luke?"

"In the kitchen, talking to Cesar."

"Thanks."

Jess walked into the kitchen, getting an immediate glare from Cesar.

"Good to see you, buddy.", Jess said sarcastically.

"Luke, get him out of my kitchen.", Cesar demanded.

Luke rolled his eyes and guided Jess out of the kitchen.

"Bet you missed this place, huh?", Luke said.

"I actually did.", Jess admitted.

"What've you been up to today?"

"Nothing much."

"Where did you go after breakfast?"

"Out."

Luke rolled his eyes at that answer but smiled at the sense of nostalgia that came across him.

"I meant to ask you before, did you notice anything different about Will?"

"Should I have noticed anything different about Will?"

"He's been a little down lately. But, you always put him in a better mood."

"Because of his girlfriend?"

"Yeah. Poor kid."

"Don't worry about Will, I'll take him out and show him a good time."

"That's what I figured. Which is why I'd like to set a couple of ground rules so we don't have a repeat of what happened last time you took Dylan out to 'show him a good time'."

"That was a one time thing. What are the odds it happens again?"

"No excessive drinking, nothing illegal, and don't take him anywhere outside of a three hour travel time. You hear me?"

"Loud and clear."

"Good."

* * *

 **Taylor's House**

"That's everything.", Taylor said, looking around her room full of boxes.

Will put his arms around her waist when he noticed her eyes tearing up.

"I don't wanna go.", she said in a whisper.

"I don't want you to go.", Will replied.

"What's gonna happen to us?", Taylor asked suddenly, taking Will by surprise. It was evident the two had been avoiding that conversation.

"What do you want to happen to us?"

It was silent for a minute.

Taylor sighed.

"It's not fair to either of us to do the long distance thing.", she finally said.

Will tried to hide his disappointment; he was willing to try it out.

"I agree.", he lied.

Taylor smiled sadly.

"William Danes, you're the best boyfriend I've ever had and probably ever will have."

Will was crushed, he even felt his eyes water which was uncommon for him. He blinked it away.

"That's not true. You're an amazing girl and any guy would be lucky to have you. I don't know how I got so lucky but thank you for making Chilton bearable, for always supporting me at my baseball games, and for being an amazing girlfriend."

At this point, tears were streaming down Taylor's face.

"Why are you saying all of this? I'm not leaving yet.", she sniffled.

"I know, but I wanted to make sure I had the chance to say it."

She pulled him into a hug and kissed him on the cheek as she rested her head on his shoulder.

"I don't want you to come tomorrow.", she said softly.

"What?"

"I like this, what we're doing right now. I want this to be the last thing I remember with you. I don't want the emotional stress of tomorrow to come into play of our last day with one another. I wanna end it on a good note. Okay?"

Will was once again taken by surprise and disappointed, but didn't want to argue.

"Okay.", he accepted.

* * *

 **Sorry for the long wait. I would keep trying to continue then delete everything I wrote. I've rewritten this chapter four times. I hope you guys liked it and the arrival of Jess. Let me know what you thought, it helps so much! :)**


	20. Chapter 20

**Danes House**

Will walked into his house after his last day with Taylor. He was understandably upset. He felt as though he had lost a major part of his life. Taylor kept him in check; she was his voice of reason.

He walked past his family having dinner in the dining room and headed for the stairs.

"Will, honey, is that you?", Lorelai called.

Will stopped in his tracks and reluctantly turned around, but staying by the stairs.

"Yes.", he replied, shortly.

"Come have dinner. Dad made steak."

Will rolled his eyes, not in the mood and just wanting to go up to his room to blast music. He made sure to not sound disrespectful though as it would only anger his parents and delay him even more.

"Not hungry."

"He's probably upset about Taylor.", he heard his sister say.

"Mind your own business, Zoe", he snapped.

"Will, get over here, I don't like this whole yelling across the house thing.", Luke ordered.

Will walked back to the dining room and stood in the doorway.

"What?"

Luke decided to ignore the attitude Will was giving.

"We were discussing the holiday card. We have to take the family pictures. I know tomorrow's your last day with Taylor, but maybe I can schedule the appointment for after. Do you know when you're available tomorrow?", Lorelai says.

"All day."

"I thought Taylor was leaving tomorrow.", Dylan questions.

"She is."

"So you're not gonna-", Lorelai starts but Will cuts her off.

"I can do tomorrow.", he states.

"Can you sit down and eat dinner with your family?", Luke said, more as an order than a question.

"No.", he replied, not giving it a second thought.

Everyone at the table was taken aback, even Jess, who didn't dare contradict Luke when he was a teenager if he used that tone.

Luke just stared back at him, obviously surprised, as well.

"Is there anything else?", Will asked.

Luke shook his head.

* * *

Jess walked into Will's room and stared at him on his bed throwing a baseball up in the air and catching it repeatedly.

"Hey.", Jess greeted.

"Hey.", Will mumbled back.

"You good?"

"Never been better.", Will answered sarcastically.

"There's other girls, man. There's nothing you can do."

"Whatever."

"What? You're just gonna give everyone the silent treatment until you get over it?"

"No one's getting the silent treatment. I'm just not in the mood to talk. I really don't get why it's such a freaking problem."

"Don't do that. I'm sorry your girlfriend is moving away. But, you don't have to take it out on your parents, we both know you give them a hard enough time as it is."

"Sorry, I didn't realize you were 'holier than thou'.", Will said sarcastically.

"Just trying to help, man. Trust me, I've been down the road you're heading towards, the only person you hurt is yourself when you shut out the people who care about you."

"Cut the crap, Jess. I'm really not in the mood. Man, I thought you were cool."

"Sorry to disappoint.", he shrugged.

Will simply scoffed and went back to throwing his baseball up in the air and back.

* * *

The family of seven was piled into the mini van, almost arriving to the photographer for holiday card pictures. Zoe and Jess were seated in the second row while Dylan, Max, and Will crammed into the back row.

"Max, move your foot, it's in my space.", Will said, rolling his eyes.

"Move your arm and I'll move my foot.", Max countered.

"Would you both just stop squirming?", Dylan exasperated.

Will moved his arm closer to Max to spite him and Max expanded his leg room more by spreading his feet into both Dylan and Will's space.

"Max!", both boys said in unison.

"Stop it, all three of you.", Luke ordered, looking into his mirror at the three boys in the back.

"Sorry.", Dylan, being the only one out of the three, who apologized.

"Alright. Let's go over a few things.", Luke started, as he stopped at the red light before the turn into the photography place's parking lot.

The entire car groaned, including Lorelai.

"Gee, Uncle Luke, you really know how to get a crowd going.", Jess said sarcastically.

Luke ignored Jess, used to the remarks by now, and continued.

"Trust me, nobody wants to get this done faster than I do. Let's make this quick and easy by doing what the photographer says and not being difficult. Will, Max, Jess, I'm looking at you guys."

"And don't blink. I don't wanna see anyone blinking as long as that camera is on. The worst thing is having the pictures all developed and seeing that someone's eyes are closed.", Lorelai added.

The light turned green and Luke pulled into the parking lot.

One by one, everyone got out of the car and Lorelai stopped to examine everyone's color-coordinated outfits. She had picked everyone's clothes out.

She had picked out a red pullover with a flannel underneath and a pair of jeans for Luke, a red flannel and jeans for Max, a grey pullover with a red flannel collared shirt underneath and jeans for Jess, Will, and Dylan, and a long grey sweater with a flannel scarf and sheer tights for Zoe, and a cream sweater with a flannel tied around her waist and skinny jeans for herself.

"Everyone looks amazing", she said excitedly.

Luke smiled at her.

"We look like dweebs.", Will complained.

"No, you look adorable.", Lorelai assured her son, walking over and fixing his collar.

"Mom.", Will sighed.

Jess hated getting his picture taken as much as he hated dressing up in matching outfits just to have proof of it posted in strangers' houses.

Luke couldn't help but smirk at the sight of his nephew dressed up and matching for a festive activity. The two let the rest of the family walk ahead.

"Never thought I'd see the day come.", Luke chuckled, referring to Jess's compliance to take part in family photos.

Jess rolled his eyes.

"I could say the same to you too. Where's the big speech on how Christmas cards are just a terrific waste of time when kids are dressed up in fancy, uncomfortable clothes in an attempt to make everyone think they're a perfect, happy family when in reality that one picture that gets posted up on friend's and family's fridges probably took 15 tries? Or the lecture on how just sending a holiday card with an impersonal "Wishing you the happiest of holidays" isn't the equivalent of an actual phone call?"

"Yeah, yeah. It's right next to the "I'm not really a big fan of jam hands" speech.", Luke joked.

"Look at you, Uncle Luke, big man. One day you're pushing me into a lake a few days into living with me, the next you got four kids.", Jess smirked.

"Where the hell does the time go? I still can't believe it.", Luke wondered out loud.

"Right out the window with your hair.", Jess retorted.

Luke jokingly smacked the back of Jess's head as Jess chuckled at his own joke.

"Don't mess up his hair, Luke. It took him half an hour in the bathroom and a whole bottle of hair gel.", Lorelai called.

"You heard the wife.", Jess smirked once again, speeding up to catch up to the rest of the family.

Luke chuckled to himself before running a hand through his hair to reassure himself that he wasn't balding yet.

The photographer was ready for them a few minutes after they walked in.

"What a beautiful family.", the photographer said in a high-pitched voice, before even looking up from her camera, obviously having to say it to every client.

"If we're this beautiful before she even looks at us, I can't wait to see how beautiful we are with a credit card in our hands", Luke whispered to Zoe.

Zoe giggled and playfully shoved her father.

"Alright, I'm gonna take a couple of pictures and I'll move you guys around a bit.", she informed them, finally looking up.

"If you don't mind, I'd like to have this done as timely as possible, I have to get back to work.", Luke told her.

The lady responded with a fake smile and nod.

"Let's have the youngest sit on the chair and you three boys around him.", she started, pointing to Max, Jess, Dylan, and Will.

The four reluctantly did so and waited for more directions.

"And let's have you in between those two with your hands resting on their shoulders.", she pointed to Zoe, guiding her in between Dylan and Will.

"Mr. and Mrs. Danes go on opposite sides and put your arms around the kids."

"Why do I have to sit in the chair?", Max complained.

"Quit whining so we can get this over with.", Will replied.

"You don't have to be such a jerk all the time, you know.", Zoe stepped in to stand up for Max, getting out of her position.

"Can everyone get back into their positions?", the photographer requested, annoyed.

"Stop it, now.", Luke warned.

"Everyone smile. 1, 2, 3.", she snapped the first photo then took a look.

"One of you blinked and one of you didn't smile."

"Can we all just be cooperative, please?", Lorelai exasperated.

"I'll bet Will didn't smile.", Max said.

"Let's try this again. 1, 2..."

The flash went off as Will rolled his eyes and flicked the top of Max's head.

"Hey!"

"Ooh, I think you blinked in that one, bud", Will said sarcastically.

"Will, I'm serious, if you don't stop you're gonna be-", Luke started.

"What? What am I gonna be Dad? Grounded? Go ahead and ground me, I don't care.", Will cut him off.

"How about you tone down the attitude so we can get this picture taken?", Lorelai said.

"Fine, whatever.", Will gave in.

"Let's try this another time. 1, 2, 3."

"Please tell me that was a good one.", Lorelai said.

"These two aren't smiling.", she replied, pointing to Will and Max.

"We're supposed to look like a damned happy family, so for the love of God, just smile.", Luke said, getting aggravated.

"Seriously, stop feeling sorry for yourself for a minute so we can take this stupid photo. You're holding everyone up.", Zoe told Will.

"The last person I need a lecture from is you, Zoe."

"Stop arguing for a freaking second. Why do you have to be so difficult?", Dylan said.

Jess stood, waiting for the photographer to take the picture so he could go home and change. He wasn't in the mood to hear Luke get all ticked off so he just hoped they would get one good picture in the next five minutes.

Soon enough, all four siblings were arguing. Just as Luke was about to cut in, Jess beat him to it.

"Are you freaking kidding me?", he yelled, throwing everyone off.

They all stopped and stared back at him.

"Stop acting like a bunch of brats, it's so ridiculous. I don't give a damn what you do after we get the picture but quit it for a minute so we can all get out of here.", he ranted.

Slowly they all returned to their positions and each plastered a fake smile on their faces.

"1, 2, 3."

The flash went off and they all waited for the photographer to look at it.

"That's the one."

"Thank God.", Luke muttered under his breath.

"Would you like to take a few back ups?"

"No.", the entire family said in unison.

"I think we're good here.", Lorelai said quickly, pulling out her credit card to put the order in for the cards.

* * *

 **Let me know what you guys think! It's an enormous help! Do you guys like the characters? Do you like the story plot so far? :)**


	21. Chapter 21

The car ride back from the photography place was long and, for the most part, silent. Luke would give the occasional "You guys should be ashamed of your behavior" line and Lorelai would shake her head. Lorelai drove on the way back to be able to drop Luke off at the diner on the way home.

When they arrived at the diner, Luke gave Lorelai a kiss and began to step out of the car but stopped and turned around to face the kids.

"Will, you're coming with me.", Luke told him.

"But you said that I could have the day off today!", he pointed out.

"I know what I said, but now I'm saying that you don't have the day off."

"But, Dad!"

"Will, I don't want to argue. After the stunt you pulled today, you're in no position to argue."

"Everyone else has the day off and I don't even get a chance to change my clothes.", he complained as he made his way out of the car.

Will reluctantly followed Luke into the diner.

"You know, after your behavior today made it pretty clear we need to talk about Taylor moving.", Luke started as they walked past the busy tables.

"Why? What does that have to do with anything? Can't I just be in a bad mood?"

"Will, I'm sorry Taylor moved but if you need a way to deal with it, acting out isn't the way. You and I could-"

"With all due respect, Dad, you can make me bus tables and do dishes but you can't make me talk about something I don't wanna talk about."

Luke thought for a moment and realized it was no use. He crossed his arms and sighed.

"Fine, we'll go with your idea. Bus the tables for now and I'll let you know when I want you to do dishes.", Luke countered, patting Will on the back before walking behind the counter.

Will complained under his breath but reached over the counter to retrieve his apron.

"This is so precious. Father and son matching for the holiday season.", Kirk smiled, taking note of Luke and Will's outfits.

"Shut it, Kirk.", Will grunted.

Luke pulled off the grey pullover, leaving just his usual flannel. Will realized if he pulled off his pullover the two would be matching once again.

"Dad, come on, please at least let me go upstairs and change into one of your old t-shirts.", Will begged.

"Make it quick.", Luke agreed.

Will walked up the stairs gratefully.

"I wish that my father and I would match for the holiday season.", Kirk said.

"We had family photos today for our Christmas card.", Luke explained briefly.

"Oh is that like a yearly tradition?"

"Yeah, I guess. Lorelai liked to sends out Christmas cards to everyone."

"Well, that's funny, I don't remember ever receiving one. So clearly she doesn't send them to everyone.", he huffed.

Luke rolled his eyes.

"Listen, I think I should warn you considering the hot coffee incident that went down last time. Will's in a very bad mood so don't hammer him with a lot of questions today.", Luke told him.

He didn't have to be told twice. The last time Will was in a bad mood and Kirk got on his last nerve, Will 'accidentally' spilled hot coffee all over him.

Will walked back down the stairs in one of Luke's plain white t-shirts. He took a look around at all the customers and glared.

"Here's the tub", Luke told him, handing him the tub where all the dirty dishes go.

"Yeah, yeah.", he mutters back, grabbing it then walking away.

"So much fire in one pair of eyes.", Kirk whispered.

Will made his way around the diner, quickly grabbing the dirty dishes to get it over with. His last table was Ms. Patty's and he was trying to avoid it because she would always drag him into a conversation which he was never, especially not today, in the mood for. He walked over to her and the girl who looked about his age's table.

"Oh, Will!", Ms. Patty exclaimed.

Once his presence was acknowledged, he knew he would be standing there for a while.

"Hi.", he replied shortly.

"I want you to meet my niece, Jessica.", she introduced.

"Hey.", she smiled, blushing.

Will looked at her and nodded in response. She was attractive enough but today was not the day for anyone to be introducing him to any girls.

"I told you we had our fair share of hotties in Stars Hollow!", Ms. Patty exclaimed.

"My mom's moving us out here.", Jessica explained.

"Oh.", he simply replied, wondering at what point he could just walk away.

"I'm actually gonna be looking for a job. Do you know if they're hiring here?", she asked.

"Will's father actually owns the diner so he could put in a good word for you.", Ms. Patty answered before Will could even open his mouth.

"That'd be cool.", she smiled.

"Well actually-", Will started but was quickly cut off by Ms. Patty.

"Luke!", she called across the diner.

Luke was watching his son from afar talking to the girl sitting across from Ms. Patty. He hoped this was the first step to him moving on. She seemed to look like the girls Will went after. When Ms. Patty called him over, he saw it as the opportunity to see what was going on.

"What?", he replied, walking towards them.

"This is my niece, Jessica, she's new to town and is looking for a job."

"A job here?"

Will waited for Luke to quickly shut her down but he didn't seem to be.

"I have tons of experience, I've worked at a frozen yogurt place for two summers and I waited tables at a diner for a year."

Luke looked like he was thinking.

"You know, I'm not really hiring right now", he started, causing Jessica's face to fall, "but now that I think about it, I could use the extra help considering all of the slacking that goes on.", he finishes, giving Will an accusatory look.

Will ignored it and rolled his eyes.

"That'd be great.", she smiled.

"Perfect. How about you come in tomorrow around noon and we'll see how it works out from there.", Luke told her.

"Great, I'll be here."

"Thanks, Luke.", Ms. Patty said.

"Dad, can I see you for a second?", Will asked.

"I don't see why not", Luke answered.

Will walked to the counter to place the tub of dirty dishes down and Luke followed.

"Don't think I don't know what you're doing.", Will started, crossing his arms.

"What am I doing?", he replied innocently.

"You hired her to try to set us up"

"Does that sound like something I would do?"

"Yeah, it does."

Luke had to admit, the thought had crossed his mind. He wasn't out to necessarily set Will up with a random girl but he figured if he spent more time with other girls he would see that Taylor wasn't the only one out there.

"Well, son, believe it or not, I don't run my business around your relationship status."

"It's not gonna work."

"The only thing working is gonna be her because by the looks of it, you're barely doing the bare minimum."

"I don't believe this. Nobody can ever cut me some slack. My girlfriend just moved away and you guys are acting like it's no big deal! Why can't I just be freaking upset for a while?", he complained, his voice getting louder. This caused most of the customers to turn and watch the periodical fight between the father and son.

"Will, your mother and I cut you plenty of slack! I get that it's hard for you right now and I'm in no way saying it's not a big deal. But, that doesn't mean you can behave whatever way you want. The attitude I'm getting from you is unacceptable."

He rolled his eyes in response.

"And I swear that's like the hundredth time you've rolled your eyes at me today. If I see it one more time, you'll be grounded."

Will just glared back at Luke who just stood there with his arms crossed, not flinching one bit.

"I don't mean to interrupt, but I was wondering if I could get a-", Kirk started.

"Shut it, Kirk.", Luke and Will said in unison.

"I'm taking my break now.", Will finally said.

Luke nodded at him in acceptance.


End file.
